In Lynn Woods 



With Pen and Camera 



UH:ATHAhl MOKTIMER HAIVKES 



Stranger, if thou hast learned a truth which needs 

No school of long experience, that this world 

Is full of guilt and misery, and hast seen 

Enough of all its sorrows, crimes and cares 

To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood. 

And view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade 

Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze 

That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm 

To thy sick heart. 

— Bryant 



/f7 



W^)< 



J 



LYNX, MASS. 

T H O S . P. NICHOLS 
1893 



\ 






H 



Copur/ghf, 1892. 
By NATHAN M. HAWKES. 



THE NICHOLS PHE8.S, 
THOS. p. NICHOLS, LYNN. MASS. 



At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to 
leave his city estimates of great and small, wise and foolish. The knapsack 
of custom falls off his back with the first step he takes into these precincts. 
Here is sanctity which shames our religions, and reality which discredits our 
heroes. Here we find Nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs every 
other circumstance, and judges like a god all men that come to her. We 
have crept out of our close and crowded houses into the night and morning, 
and we see what majestic beauties daily wrap us in their bosom. How 
willingly we would escape the barriers which render them comparatively 
impotent, escape the sophistication and second thought, and suffer Nature 
to entrance us. The tempered light of the woods is like a perpetual morning, 
and is stimulating and heroic. The anciently-reported spells of these places 
creep on us. The stems of pines, hemlocks, and oaks almost gleam like iron 
on the excited eye. The incommunicable trees begin to persuade us to live 
with them, and quit our life of solemn trifles. 

— Emerson. 



PREFACE 



The notable achievement of Lynn in restoring its ancient 
forest to tlie highest form of commnnal nse has become 
known beyond our borders. Ah^eady the advance guard 
of pilgrims has seen its beauties and sung its praises. 
An ever increasing throng of lovers of Nature will visit 
Lynn to enjo}^ its greatest attraction — its silvan retreat. 
Others have given land, cash, business ability and enthusi- 
asm to the grand project. In a cause that attracts all the 
loyal sons of the old town I could not be wholly an idler, 
hence this little book. Whatever else it may be, it will at 
least serve to exhibit the skill of our amateur photographers, 
and the excellent work of our handicraftsmen in the art 
preservative. It is neither a guide-book nor a history. 
There are some things in it that have caused the Breakfast 
Table critic to style the writer a browsing antiquary. I, 
however, can lay no claim to the standing of an antiquarian. 
I have a reverence for the fathers, and a deep respect for 
the men of modern Lynn, historians, naturalists, and men of 
affairs, who have worked together to dedicate to all genera- 
tions that follow us the inestimable boon of the Lynn 
Woods. The woods have cherished the names of some of 
the planters for more than two centuries. That they will 
perpetuate the memories of some of our citizens who are 
named in these sketches for an even longer period is my 
confident belief. 



VI PREFACE. 

Giving due credit, I have not hesitated to use some 
descriptions of Mr. Lewis, Mr. Newhall and Mr. Tracy. 

It is quite likely that if I could have made the whole 
work a mosaic from the writings of such eminent authorities 
it would have been more satisfactory. The ground to be 
traveled, however, was largely untrodden, so that my pen 
had to do some pioneer scribbling. 

The result is submitted not as a commercial literary 
effort (for that, as some know, would have been drudgery 
to a lazy man), but as a labor of love, which will be amply 
rewarded if the visitor shall think it worthy, for want of a 
better, to be preserved as a Souvenir of Lynn Woods. 

Lynn, Mass., 
Xovember 1, 1892. 



CONTENTS. 



I. 


Evolution 


1 


II. 


Use 


10 


III. 


KOADS 


14 


IV. 


Landings 


10 


y. 


Walls and Pastures 


21 


VI. 


Dungeon Rock 


28 


VII. 


ToMLiNs' Swamp — A Conservator of Old iSTAMES 


40 


VIII. 


BuRRiLL Hill ....... 


47 


IX. 


Mount Gilead ....... 


53 


X. 


The Glen 


60 


XI. 


Ponds 


67 


XII. 


Ox PASTin;E AVatcii Tower 


m 


XIII. 


Appendix 


SI 




Public Forest Trust 


81 




Names of Contributors ...... 


95 




Area of Public Grounds ..... 


96 




Area of Ponds ....... 


96 




Distances ........ 


97 




Height of Hills in Lynn Woods .... 


97 




Of the Laying Out of Public Parks by Towns and Cities 


9S 




Ordinances ......•• 


108 



ILLUSTRATIONS, 



Aaron Bun-iir.s Pines 






Frontispiece 


Approach from AValnut ^Street 




1 


Gate House, Breed's Pond 








10 


Winter* • 








14 


Dungeon Koad — Hemlock Ridge 








17 


Road to Dungeon Rock 








28 


The Dungeon* 








83 


Tomlins' Swamp, near Penny Bridge 








40 


A Burrill Hill Path .... 








48 


Outlook from Mount Gilead . 








53 


Old Man's Walk 








GO 


Penny Brook ..... 








()4 


Breed's Pond ..... 








07 


Walden Pond * 








73 


Road by Glen Lewis Pond 








74 


Near Ox Pasture * .... 








7G 


Group ....... 








81 


* Funiislied by the kindness of the Souvenir Publishinc 


} COMP 


ANY, I 


^ynn. 





EVOLUTION. 



Sucli is the gift vvliich tlie gooil God, worliing tlirough social history and natural 
history, and statute laws, and the hearts of men, has given to the present and Wie 
future people of Lynn. 

Edward Everett Hale. 



WILLIAM WOOD came to Lynn in 1629. His 
father, Jolin Wood, was the leader of the little 
band of Pnritans who strayed away from Endi- 
cott's colony at Salem, and his name has attached to the 
Eastern (Woodend) part of Lynn to this day. While here 
William Wood wrote a book, which is a classic in New Eng- 
land bibliography. It is entitled '■'■New England's ProspeetT 
It is the first book that was ever written on the soil of Lynn. 
He thus writes of onr water: "It is farr different from the 
waters of England, being not so sharp but of a fatter sub- 
stance, and of a more jettie color ; it is thought there can 
be no better water in the world ; yet dare I not prefer it 
before good beere, as some have done ; but any man will 
choose it before bad beere, whey or buttermilk." 

But when in his botanical quest lie came upon our woods 
he found prose too mean a vehicle for his delighted thoughts. 
Hence he drops into quaint poetry. These are the first lines 
ever penned about the woods of Lynn : 

" Trees both in hills an<l plaines, in plenty he, 
The long liv'd Oake, and mournful Cypris tree, 
Skie-towering Pines, and Chesnuts coated rough, 
The lasting Cedar, with the Walnut tough; 
(1) 



IN LYNN WOODS. 



The rosin-dropping Firr for masts in use; 

The boatmen seeke for cares, light, neat-grown Sprewse, 

The brittle Ash, the ever-trembling Aspes, 

The broad-spread Elme, whose concave harbors waspes; 

The water-spongie Alder, good for nought, 

Small Eldeme by th' Indian Fletchers sought. 

The knottie Maple, pallid Birtch, Hawthornes, 

The Hornbound tree that to be cloven scornes, 

Which, from the tender Vine oft taks its spouse. 

Who twinds imbracing armes about his boughes. 

Within this Indian Orchard fruits be some. 

The ruddie Cherrie and the jettie Plumbe, 

Snake murthering Hazell, with sweet Saxaphrage, 

Whose spumes in beere allays hot fever's ragej ' 

The diars (dyer's) Shumach, with more trees there be, 

That are both good to use and rare to see." 

The Lynn Woods are in the cliain of granite hills that 
stand watch and ward over Massachusetts Bay from Quincy 
to Rockport. Unsnited for agriculture by their ruggedness 
and remoteness, they were occupied or unoccupied^n com- 
mon until 1706. And even then by a unique vote they 
were practically kept unvexed by walls or buildings down 
to the time of their purchase or condemnation for a public 
reservation. 

" The towne considering the great difficulty of laying out 
highways on the common lands, by reason of the swamps, 
hills, and rockenes of the land, theirfore voated, that after 
said common lands shall be divided, every person interested 
therein, shall have free liberty at all times, to pass and 
repass over each others' lotts of lands, to fetch their wood 
and such other things as shall be upon their lands, in any 
place or places, and for no other ends, provided they do not 
cut downe any sort of tree or trees in their so passing 
over." ^ ^ 

As the lands were divided among the householders 



EVOLUTION. 



according to tax rates, the lots varied greatly in size. They 
were largely held from generation to generation in the 
families to whom they were allotted. The year's supply of 
wood was cut in winter and the rest of the year they were 
the unmolested haunts of wild birds and beasts. In tlieir 
sunny nooks 

" Full many a flower was l)orn to lilusli unseen 
Ami waste its sweetness on the desert air." 

It is trenching upon the marvelous to relate that a busy 
manufacturing town on the seacoast of Massachusetts awoke 
one morning to find itself possessed of a grander natural 
park than any city in the land — a larger one in area, in 
proportion to population, than any. 

Lynn is one of the oldest of the Puritan settlements of 
the Bay Colony. Upon these woods of ours, looking then 
just as they do now, the eyes of John Winthrop and John 
Endicott gazed as they passed to and fro between Boston 
and Salem. Sir Edmund Andros and Simon Bradstreet 
passed by the great forest. It kept the north wind from 
chilling Washington as he made his triumphal journey 
through New England after he became President, and waved 
a glad welcome to Lafayette when he rode through Boston 
street under the floral arches in after days. 

Not long after the division of the common lands, shoe- 
making began to be an important industry in Lynn. In 
1750, John Adam Dagyr, a skilled Welch shoemaker, ap- 
peared and gave a great impetus to the gentle craft of 
leather. The warmth and sociability of the little shoe- 
maker's shop became more attractive than the exposure and 
hardship of frontier farm life. So it came to pass that the 
woodlands were more and more neglected, till, considered 



IN LYNN WOODS. 



almost worthless, they were forgotten. The population was 
sparse and its habits were sedentary. All the time, however, 
there was a growth, but the boys went to work at the bench. 
Lynn became a city. Shoe machinery did away with the 
social democratic shoe shop life of a homogeneous people. 

Strange tongues were heard in the streets. Diversified 
industries came in. Factory life became distaseful to the 
descendants of the early comers. The noise of machinery 
hinders thought. Tired brains looked through aching eyes 
toward the green-covered hilltops. A law of heredity, 
which had been repressed in the stern Puritans, both here 
and in old England, but which had survived in the Anglo- 
Saxon race from the time it had emerged from the forests of 
Germany, awakened under changed conditions the senti- 
mental attachment for the woods. 

The mj-riads of wood pigeons, whose flight was so thick as 
to obscure the sun, liad gone. The honk of the wild goose 
in his annual migration was still heard. That born thief, 
the little red fox, still robbed the partridge of the brown 
eggs in her nest in the cleft of the tree close to the ground. 
The gray squirrel found abundant stores of that hick- 
ory nut — the shagbark — pi'ecious alike to squirrel and 
Yankee boy. The wild grape clambered over tlie gray 
rocks, climbed the sturdy oaks, and its luscious fruit grew 
purple beneath September's sun. The lowly sweet fern and 
the lordly pine each perfumed the air with its aroma. For- 
tunately for the future, that even cleavage of the rock forma- 
tion which attracts the stone-cutter elsewhere, was missing 
liere. The sportsman and the wood chopper were indeed 
enemies ; but the mischief they did Nature knew how to 
repair. The beetling cliffs, the great swamps, the sunny 



EVOLUTION. 



glades and the secluded recesses of the forest existed in 
their pristine charms. 

A variety of motives drew attention to the old woods. 
Dungeon Rock for generations had held a sealed mystery. 
The residence there of Hiram Marble had been a magnet to 
draw the out-of-doors believers in his creed. 

It was a utilitarian motive that rescued the water shed 
and shores of Breed's Pond in its purchase by the City in 
1870 as a source of water supply. From that time onward 
till the final environment of the woods with a belt of arti- 
ficial ponds for the use of the City, the genius of Edwin 
Walden led public thought in this direction. 

Then Cyrus M. Tracy, the author of '•'■Sttidies of the Essex 
Flora,'^ an earnest and intelligent worshipper at the shrine 
of the beautiful in Nature, organized the " Exploring Circle," 
and in 1882 formulated a plan for preserving the woods by 
securing titles in them through the medium of a trust, 
entered into between the City of Lynn and the " Trustees 
of the Public Forest." A copy of this deed of trust should 
be set forth as an important historical document. It created 
a trust in the hands of loyal sons of Lynn. Under it the 
Trustees acquired one hundred and sixty acres, including 
Penny Brook Glen and Dnngeon Rock. 

If the woods had remained in the condition in which they 
existed down to 1889, a gradual acquisition by purchase 
might have been possible, but in that year a miglity change 
in surroundings occurred. The Public Water Board filled 
the valley from North Saugus to Wyoma with Walden and 
Glen Lewis Ponds. If the change had stopped there the 
character of the woods might not have experienced imminent 
danger. But the ponds were girded with a smooth highway 



IN LYNN WOODS. 



that pierced the woods and made them accessible to all the 
meaner kinds of human occupation. 

A more heroic method and a more speedy one must be 
adopted, if the woods were to be saved intact. The means 
were at hand. The Legislature had in 1882 passed what is 
popularly known as " The Park Act." The act, with other 
documents, will be found in the appendix. This act was 
accepted by the citizens of Lynn at the State election, Nov- 
ember 6,, 1888. Citizens interested in preserving the water 
shed of the ponds and the wild scenery of the woods, under 
the inspiration of Philip A. Chase, pledged the sum of 
twenty thousand dollars, "to aid the City of Lynn in the 
purchase and improvement of the land in Lynn Woods as a 
Public Park." The City Council quickly responded to this 
public-spirited tender, and on the 9th of July, 1889, appro- 
priated the sum of thirty thousand dollars for the purpose 
of carrying out the provisions of the Park Act. 

The Board of Park Commissioners organized in October, 
1889, with Philip A. Chase as Chairman, and Frank W. 
Jones as Secretary. Isaac K. Harris was employed as sur- 
veyor. Under his direction a map, showing the existing 
ways and foot-paths, with the numerous lot owners, hills, 
brooks and swamps, was prepared. The tract embraced in', 
this first taking belonged to about one hundred and twenty- 
five owners, scattered all over the country. With infinite 
pains, the Commissioners ran the titles of these various lots 
back to the original laying-out in 1706. 

The Commissioners, in their report for 1890, say that they 
have completed the taking of lands in Lynn Commons, and 
find that the number of acres, by survey, is 996, which have 
been acquired as follows ; 



EVOLUTION. 



By purchase 815 

By gift 07 

By coudemnation 114 

« 
As a matter of fact, the whole tract, however obtained, 
lias been condemned to establish a perfect title in cases of 
ill-defined boundaries, possible unknown heirs and claimants. 
The entire area in this forest for public use is sixteen 
hundred acres. Adjoining lands taken by the Water Board, 
land owned by the city, and three hundred and four acres 
in the ponds, make up this total. 

The Commissioners in their reports have only done justice 
in singling out Cyrus M. Tracy for special mention, as the 
organizer and director of the Free Public Forest movement. 
In their report for 1890, they say of the Trustees: 

'• The Trustees of the Free Public Forest, who had acquired 
by gift and purchase about one hundred and sixty acres in 
Lynn Commons, transferred the same to tlie City of Lynn. 

"• The Trustees, aware of their own limitations, recognized 
in the powers conferred on the Commissioners, by the Park 
Act, the means to attain the chief aim of their own organi- 
zation. The City Council voted to assume and fulfil all the 
conditions that the deed of trust imposed upon the Trustees, 
and to pay all liens on the property conveyed, and all tlie 
indebtedness of the trust. 

" Our citizens will remember the pioneer work of the Trus- 
tees of the Free Public Forest with gratitude. To them 
belongs the honor of taking the first steps to make Lynn 
Commons free. Their acceptance of the methods that their 
snccessors found indispensable to achieve success, and their 
ready co-operation, is a testimony of their singleness of 
purpose and zeal," 



IN LYNN WOODS. 



The names of the contributors to the fund to secure the 
hind and to buikl the roads will be given elsewhere. 

A statettient of the gifts of land — much of it prized as 
heirlooms, through long hereditary holding, and hence making 
it more of a sacrifice than its mere value in money — is here 
presented in acres and rods : 

_ , „ Acres Rods 

John B. aiul Hattie C. Newhall ....... is 50 

Amos F. Breed 3 qq 

Heirs of Philip Chase 4 20 

Dr. Edward Newhall 7 140 

Paraelia B. Mudge 5 _ 

C- F. Coffin '.'.'.'.'.[ u 140 

J. Pnrinton , „„ 

T. A. Newhall 2 90 

W. O. Newhall 7 ^^ 

67 20 

In the closing years of the nineteenth century, the City 
of Lynn consecrates to its people and to posterity, a magnifi- 
cent domain in the primeval forest. Our fathers called it 
L^nn Woods. Let that remain its name forever ! 

It is believed that nowhere in the world are so many 
surprises of Nature within convenient reach of such a large 
urban population, as upon this territory. No one can hope 
to possess himself of all its infinite variety of charm. One 
might live far beyond the allotted span of man, spend every 
day of his life in searching out its secrets, and at its close 
there would be more marvels unrevealed than his eyes had 
looked upon. 

Unlike most of the reservations that are devoted to park 
purposes, this one comes to us not raw, nor new, nor to be 
planted, ornamented nor improved, but an ancient forest, 
full of the traditions and lives of our ancestors. 



EVOLUTION. 



A properly guarded woodland presents a sharp contrast 
to any other pul)lic or private property. That is to say, any 
building or any road is at its best when newly constructed. 
Each year takes away value. With the woods the reverse 
is true. The older they are the greater their value, not 
only from the iesthetical but from the pecuniary standpoint. 
Of course, individual trees fall out, but others and better 
take their places. This progression goes on for centuries — 
without limitation. Every oncoming generation will receive 
a richer blessing from these shades than the one that precedes, 
and this in proportion as the woods are left or kept in a 
natural state, so as to offer the greatest opposition to the 
artificial conditions of city life, which toiling men and women 
will come here to avoid and to forget. 



USE. 



'Tis use alone that sauctlfles expense.-PoPE. 
(Law) The benefit or profit of lands and tenements 

mei^Von. a trust and confidence reposed in a man for the holding of lands 
He to whose use or benefit the trust is intended shall enjoy the profits. 

IT SHOULD be strongly impressed upon the public 
mind, in considering the Lynn Woods, that the use of 
this great communal reservation as a place of recrea- 
tion is simply a subordinate incident, which grows out of 
the high motives that actuated the taking. Whatever other 
trusts are placed in the keeping of the Park Commissioners 
their paramount duty will be to guard the woods as the 
essential safe-guard of the purity of our water supply and of 
Its contmuing abundance. Out of the utilitarian planting, 
germinates the perennial aesthetic. To say nothing of the 
beautiful, the Lynn Woods have acquired more than a local 
-even a national - fame as a successful municipal experi- 
ment in practical forestry ; that is, in keeping our hillsides 
clothed with the living drapery of the trees, so that the soil 
may not shrivel nor the springs dry up. 

The State Board of Agriculture of the Commonwealth, in 

the Report for 1890, reporting upon '^the condition of the 

forests of the State, the need and method of their protection 

for sanitary and other reasons," refers to our woods as follows : 

"Li considering our woodlands from a sanitary or other 

(10) 




't / 






USE. 11 

standpoint, it may be said that the small proportion of old 
forest must lessen the value of our woods as a source of 
water supply in the State, because forest land is productive 
of springs ; although springs are sometimes found in open 
hillsides, as, for example, those supplying Cottage City and 
Vineyard Haven. The forests, when surrounding the reser- 
voirs of water supplies — as has been accomplished in the 
City of Lynn — are a very important means of protecting the 
purity of the water, and consequently the health of our 
peoi^le, when such water is used for domestic purposes." 

In the same report the Chairman of the Committee on 
Forests states that while in attendance upon the joint meet- 
ing of the American Economic and Forestry Associations at 
Washington, December 30, last, he introduced the subject 
of the woodlands of this State, and that " the public reserva- 
tion of forest land in the City of Lynn was referred to in 
words of high praise." To maintain the credit which Lynn 
has acquired by the creation of this noble public domain, 
will not depend upon the amount of money we expend on 
appliances for feeding hungry crowds, tlie building of elal)- 
orate structures, or the massing of gaudy plants. Our 
problem is to keep noxious influences away from the woods, 
to control destroying agencies, such as fire and poacher, to 
encourage our hardy New England trees to re-assert their dom- 
inance in a region where once they held lordly sway. Under 
what is known as " The Park Act," Chapter 154 of the Acts 
and Resolves of 1882, we are accomplishing all that the 
same Legislature intended in passing (Chap. 255) '' an Act 
authorizing towns and cities to provide for the preservation 
and reproduction of forests," with the added advantage that 
the title to our lands is vested in the city and not in the 



1^ IN LYNN WOODS. 



Commonwealth, and our Board of Control being exclusively 
a local one, gives an assurance that home pride will cherish 
our goodly heritage closer than an itinerant Board of Forestry 
could do. 

Prof. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Division of the 
United States Deimrtment of Agriculture, writing concern- 
ing the protection of woodlands by law, says : 

"As far as legislation can effect anything, I believe 
Massachusetts has done as well as any State in regard to 
her forestry interests. The effect of your act enabling 
towns to own communal forests, in creating the public forest 
at Lynn, shows that where the citizens are really alive to 
the question, they will take advantage of the law. What is 
needed is, that citizens be made alive and aware of the 
advantages accruing from the application of the law, and 
they will apply it." 

The buoyant American fancy that our territory was so 
vast and so fertile that we could invite all the peoples of the 
earth to our shores, and lay waste our virgin forests with 
impunity, has received a violent shock in late years. It has 
been discovered that there is a limit to the hordes of vaga- 
bonds and outlaws shipped to us from the slums of the world, 
that " the land of the free and the home of the brave " can 
safely allow to change with necromantic swiftness into sov- 
ereigns with the ballot in their hands. It has been painfully 
manifested that vicious and ignorant slashing down of our 
woods was seriously affecting our soil and climate. It is as 
vital to the welfare of our people to call a halt to the 
forest destruction as it is to the plague-spot immigration. An 
intelligent observer, Mr. Francis H. Appleton, relates the 
result of such waste abroad : 



USE. 1^ 



"In France, as the population increased, and as all avail- 
able land was demanded for uses of the country at a more 
recent period in her history, it became necessary to reclaim 
her mountain sides and tops, once wooded, from a barren 
waste to forests again ; and in consequence of the strippnig 
off of rooted growth, the soil had been gradually washed 
from the mountain sides into the valleys ; streams had made 
new courses and multiplied them, so that it became neces- 
sary for the government of France to be put to enormous 
expense for building dams, and otherwise, to enable them 
to a^ain regain control of those streams and send them back 
to fixed channels, so that young trees could be planted over 
the hills again, to gradually remake the soil, reform the 
springs, and preserve both for the good of France. A costly 
example was thus set to the world." 

The study of forestry in this country is in its infancy. 
Its importance is generally recognized. Lynn has begun its 
share in the work in a proper spirit. There remains for the 
City Council or the citizens, the duty of enlarging our forest 
area, as has been urged in the Reports of the Park Com- 
mission, by securing for the public weal the territory known 
as the Ox Pasture. It will then devolve upon that Board 
to apply the laws of forestry to the whole domain, as the 
correct principles of that science are developed. 



ROADS. 



PROM the earliest clays of the occupation of Lynn by 
wlnte men, cart paths have existed in the woods 
constructed and used as the prin,itive needs of the 
people demanded. The great artery ran fron, east to west 
with lateral branches. Unlike a turnpike road, it avoided 
obstacles, and hence pursued a devious coui^e over and 
around the hills. It. eastern end was at the northern part 
of SImce Pond, where it struck the highway known as the 
Lynnfield Road. Its western teminus, on the top of Hawkes' 
HiU, .n Saugus, found another traveled way known as the 
Downing Road, now Walnut street. 

This trunk way, from time innnemorial, has been known 
as the Great Woods Road. The portion in Saugus was 
severed from the Lynn section by the construction of Wal- 
den Pond. It crossed Penny Brook, and the sunken part is 
now at the base of the horse-shoe. The first work done by 
the Park Commission (in 1890) was to grade this road- 
w.th scarcely a change in its course from Blood Swamp 
Landing to Walden Pond, where it intersects the Ponll 
Road, constructed by the Water Board. It is a tribute to 
the sagacity of the planters to acknowledge that modern 
engineering could find no better coui.e for the new pleasure 
driveway than the fathers used for their utilitarian purposes. 



ROADS. 



The obligation is acknowledged bj retaining the old-time 
name, the Great Woods Road. 

A slight deflection to the right, going up the road from 
the Landing, leads to Echo Rock, a bold promontory, at the 
foot of which glisten the placid waters of Glen Lewis Pond, 
beyond which are seen the precipitous crags and wooded 
ravines of the Ox Pasture, stretching away in weird solitude 
to Ljninfield. 

One of the woodmen's index fingers upon this road was a 
bowlder, appropriately called The Sugar Loaf. Somewhat 
dwarfed by the raising of the grade, it may still be seen 
at the point where the Gilead and Dungeon roads radiate 
from the Great Woods Road. 

The Mount Gilead Road, also built in 1890, in the main 
follows the spur of the Woods Road, down which hickory logs 
were being hauled by Goodman Basset, while Marlborough 
was winning the battle of Ramilles for " Our Sovereign Lady 
Anne, Queen of England." 

In 1891, the Gilead Road was extended from the southern 
outlook, by the western outlook, to the Dungeon Road, to 
obviate the necessity of descending the mountain by the 
same course it was ascended, doing away with the danger of 
turning on the often crowded loop, and also giving carriage 
visitors a glimpse of the fascinating western outlook. 

The Dungeon Road, finished during the present year, 
begins its sinuous course from the Great Woods Road, just 
below the Gilead Road. It sweeps around Mount Gilead 
"till, tumbling through rocks abrupt," it pitches into the 
deep dell, over which frowns the sheer granite face of Gilead. 
Winding around the base of the hill, turning at a right 
angle, the road crosses a bridge over Ramsdell's Brook. 



16 IN LYNN WOODS. 



This name is a reminder of the purpose of the Commission 
to preserve the colonial names that have attached themselves 
to the woods through ancient traditions. John Ramsdell 
was a planter as early as 1630. His autograph may yet be 
seen affixed to a paper signed by leading citizens, called the 
Armitage Petition. Joseph Ramsdell, a Lynn soldier, was 
killed by the Indians at Casco Bay in 1690. Abednego 
Ramsdell is one of our Lynn's immortals, for he was one of 
her four sons who gave their life's blood in the cause of 
liberty upon Lexington Green, April 19, 1775. Six other 
Ramsdells served in the Continental armies from Lynn in 
the Revolutionary War. 

Leaving Ramsdell's Brook, the road ascends a ledgy hill, 
where the soil is so sparse that the northern tempests play 
havoc with the trees that struggle to fix their roots in the 
crevices. Upon the western slope of this hill as a compen- 
sation for wreckage of tree growth, a wondrous woodland 
vista opens. Unlike the view from Gilead or Burrill, or the 
other elevations, the distant mountains, waters, ponds, and 
all creations of man's handiwork are shut out from sight. 
Instead there opens to the enraptured sight a vision of 
waving tree-tops on hills and intervales, in every direction 
as far as the eye can reach — forest all along the sky line — 
woods beneath the feet — woods towering above. Into this 
scene of enchantment the westering red sun of June throws 
its departing rays. Over the cliffs on the east, the great 
silvery orb of December's moon coldly, gloriously shines. 
Here Nature is sublime and man is forgotten. 

Descend this hill, skirt its flinty side, look over tlie re- 
taining wall, and the words of the poet will seem fit : 



ROADS. 17 



"Hail, old patrician trees, so great ami stooil ! 
Hail, ye plebeian underwood ! 

Where the poetic birds rejoice, 
And for their quiet nests and plenteous food, 
Pay with tlieir grateful voice! " 

Up again, the course lies along Hemlock Ridge, where the 
air is charged with balmy odors. 

Next is reached Pratt's Bridge, under which from the 
northeast flow the waters from Long Swamp. On the west 
the waters leap into a deep ravine, through a rocky gorge, 
forming cascades of beauty. Pratt is another old Lynn 
name well worthy to retain its niche in our temple of 
Nature. 

Down below Pratt's Bridge, where the laughing brook 
glides, embowered in evergreen, where the footsteps noise- 
lessly press the velvety moss turf, lies fair Glen Dagyr. 

Then one of the walls of the fathers — the middle pasture 
wall — gives entrance to the table land north of the Dun- 
geon. To the right may be seen the curious Lliiion Rock. 
Upon the left are the ruins of the octagonal stone l)uildings, 
which the spiritualists of Lynn began during the period of 
the Marble occupation. Through the grove to the south is 
the famed Dungeon Rock. 

Evading the breakneck grade of the old Dungeon Road 
the new makes a half circle around the hill. This opens 
through a rift in the trees a vista into the little Arcadia, 
called Dungeon Vale, where several families chose to dwell 

"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife." 

till dispossessed by the Park Commission. Giant pines tower 
skyward over the road. At the horsesheds the new road 
ends in the old Dungeon way. 



18 IN LYNN WOODS. 



Up this road the devotees of modem Spiritualism thronged 
a generation ago, to give aid and council to Hiram Marble 
in his search for the spoils of Tom Veal. Waiting, they 
whiled away the summer days by dancing upon the platform 
at the base of the rock. Just below, among the pines of 
Mudge's Grove, was a rude building Avhere other spirits 
were evoked. The old road between Dog Hill and Breed's 
Pond to the Dungeon Wall was narrow and out of repair, 
but is now in good shape. Across the upper end of the 
Pond the Lantern Rock rears its lofty peak. 

The Dungeon wall is the southern line of condemnation, 
but as the City has bought the land on both sides of the 
road along the shady banks of Breed's Pond, and as Messrs. 
Harrison Newhall and Howard Mudge Newhall have made 
the Commission a gift of the rocky blufP at the intersection 
of Walnut Street, the Dungeon Road properly finds tliere 
its terminus. 



LANDINGS. 



T^ LOOD'S Swamp Landing and the Dungeon Landing 
I \ have been familiar names to Lynn yeomanry, and in 

"^^-^ Lynn conveyances from Provincial days. They have 
already lost their significance, and the inquirer of the future 
may ask what they were and why used so much in connec- 
tion with Lynn Woods. If one of the blue frocked drivers 
of the olden time could revisit the scenes of his former life, 
where he was wont to pile his winter's fuel upon creaking 
ox-team, and guide the patient, powerful creatures with goad 
and two simple words, " gee " and "• haw," how changed he 
would find the world. 

A landing was a cleared common space, upon which 
the owners of wood lots hauled from the swamps or the 
hills their wood in winter when the ground was frozen and 
covered with snow. When dried by the summer's sun and 
wind, it was re-loaded upon wheels and carried home. 

Blood's Swamp Landing, where the Woodenders, the 
Gravesenders, Estes Fielders, Nahant Streeters and Mans- 
fieldenders landed their wood, is covered with a broad 
driveway, a Park police station — not too extravagant — 
and a Lynn and Boston Railroad Station, wdiile across 
Tarbox's Plain, betwen the gaunt poles, flies the modern 
broomstick train. 

The other great landing was called the Burrill Hill or 

(19) 



20 

IN LYNN WOODS. 



Dungeon Landing. From it wood road, diverged to Cedar 
Hdl, Tondin-s- Swamp, the Island, Dog Hill, and all the 
western wood Iot«, Here the Breedsenders and the Saugus 
men came for their winter's fuel. This landing has changed 
less than the eastern. Another evidence of the wisdom of 
the fathers is seen in the use of these principal temporary 
storehouses of thei,« in the changed life of the present. 
The eastern landing is utilized by the Lynn and Boston 
Radroad as its landing place for passengers, while the 
western is the natural terminus of the Belt Line Railroad 
which IS p„.shing up to the woodland approach west of the' 
Lantern. The shrewd railroad managers of the closin,. 
years of the nineteenth century foun<l that their normal 
and only possible way to effect a landing of their patrons 
had been pointed out to them by the planters of old Ly„„ 
two Iiunilied and fifty yeare Ijefore. 



WALLS AND PASTURES, 



THE rude .stone walls across the Lynn Woods from 
Wyoma to Saiigus, on the range lines — one of 
whicli is under the upper end of Breed's Pond, 
beyond which it strikes the Lantern, and another loses itself 
in Birch Pond — are ol)jects of wonder to those who 
encounter them. 

Through swam][)s and over hills these walls extend for 
miles, so straight that it appears as if their builders must 
have been gifted with an extra sense — that of seeing 
tlu'ough opaque substances, such as trees and boulders. 
Who were their builders, and wliat was the purpose of the 
Herculean undertaking ? 

The Puritan founders of Lynn constructed them. To 
know why they were erected involves a consideration of the 
" admirable economic system of land tenure which shaped 
the early towns." 

The church was the nucleus about which the planters 
grouped their dwellings. That the houses might be within a 
convenient distance from the church and from each other 
and at the same time to foster that spirit of loyalty and 
independence, which springs from ownership of the soil, the 
Puritans threw away utterly the last traces of feudal holding 
of lands for service, and distributed ■•' home lots " in fee 
sini[)le. The Pilgrims at Plymouth tried at first a pure 

(21) 



IN LYNN WOODS. 



community of lands and of goods. The Puritans of Massa- 
chusetts Bay made no such mistake. They decreed every 
man's house as his castle in a truer sense than Englishmen 
had known in the old world. Thus they established con- 
venience to attend church, and nearness to each other for 
safety, and the home became a sacred holding. 

The Puritans, however, tried an experiment of herding the 
stock of individuals upon Commons held by the town. This 
custom grew out of the Puritan reverence for that other 
chosen people — the Children of Israel. The Bay laws were 
based on the Mosaic Code, and the people's habits were 
largely pastoral, like the ancient people of Judea, who dwelt 
amongst their flocks and herds. 

Herding in common, but retaining individual ownership 
m the stock, besides being a labor-saving device, made the 
settlers neighborly — having a common interest in the gen- 
eral welfare. Live stock, especially " horned cattle," were 
sent out by the company in England. The wild lands 
afforded ample pasturage, the cattle, sheep and swine multi- 
plied and enriched their owners. 

The early colonial ordinances teem with regulations con- 
cerning cattle, cornfields, fences, tolling and branding of 
cattle, trespass by cattle and swine, damage to cattle by 
wolves. Cowherds, shepherds and swineherds became classes. 
These walls were built under the authority of the town, 
by the labor of all the males of the plantation, for the pro- 
tection and separation of different kinds of stock. The en- 
closure for the cows was nearest to the settlement, because 
they must be driven home twice in twenty-four hours to be 
milked. 

They were watchful of the horse pasture, as shown in the 



WALLS AND PASTUEES. 23 

order of the General Court of 1668, directing the selectmen 
to see to the improvement of horses that ran in commons 
and woods : 

'■'■ Whereas, the Breed of Horses in the country is utterly 
spoiled, whereby that useful creature will become a burthen, 
which otherwise might be beneficial, and the occasion thereof 
is conceived to be through the smalness and badness of stone 
horses and colts that run in commons and woods : 

" For the prevention whereof, this court doth order and 
enact, and be it ordered and enacted by the authority hereof, 
that no stone horse above two years old shall be suffered to 
go in commons and woods at liberty, unless he be of comely 
proportion and sufficient stature, not less than fourteen 
hands high, reckoning four inches to a handfull, and such a 
horse be viewed and allowed by the major part of the select- 
men of the town where the owner lives. 

^'And if any person or persons turn any stone horse upon 
the commons, or at liberty, or in the woods, being not 
viewed and allowed as before, he or they shall forfeit twenty 
shillings a month for every stone horse running at liberty, 
after he is two years old, which penalty is to be taken by 
warrant of the selectmen, and improved to the towns use ; 
and if the selectmen of any town do neglect their duty in 
taking their fines, and viewing such as are brought in, 
according to this law, they shall forfeit twenty shillings to 
the county treasury ; and this law to be in force the first 
October next [1668]." 

The admirers of man's noblest servant may see in this 
colonial regulation, the perfectly developed idea of correct 
horse breeding. The early settlers had as clear and en- 
lightened views upon this practical matter as Robert Bonner 
or J. I. Case. The horse pasture was north of the present 
Pine Grove Cemetery, and its cool spring, at which man and 



24 

IN LYNN WOODS. 



beast slaked thirst in the olden time, has never failed to 
yield Its beneficent beverage to this day. 

An order of the General Court shows the strict guards 
wh,ch the authorities maintained about these preserves of 
the favored householders. 

Plli' '''^f'"'^'.*'^' '>»^-ft««- "0 Cottage or DweUing 

Wood T ?' fo *° "" ""^"^'^S'' "' ^-""onage C 
Wood, Timber, and Herbage, or any other the Priviledges 
hat lye m Common in any Town or Peculiar, but such as 
already are m being, or hereafter shall be, erected by the 
consent of the Town [ll560]." ^ 

The Middle Pasture and the Dungeon Pasture are in the 
domam of the Park Commission. 

The ox pasture of the fathers was in the wilderness, 
beyond what is now Glen Lewis Pond. There the oxen 
roanied and browsed the herbage, and rubbed their backs 
■ against the trees of the primeval forest. Farthest from the 
settlement, it was more exposed to the ravages of the wolves 
Iience the construction of the wolf pits, which yet remain a 
marvel of the ingenuity of the plantere. 

Second only to witches, the Puritans feared wolves. In 
lb4o, the general court made this law about wolves: 

"Wherec. great Loss and Damage doth befall this Com- 
monwealth I.y reason of Wolves, which destroy great numbe.^ 
of our Cattle, notwithstanding provision fornferly made bv 
this Court for suppressing of them, therefore, for "the better 
encouragement of any to set about a work of so great con- 
cernment, ^ 

"It is ordered by this Court and the Authority thereof, 
that any person, either English or Indian, that shall kill an,' 
wolf or wolves, within ten miles of any Plantation in this 



WALLS AND PASTURES. 



jurisdiction, shall have for every wolf by him or them so 
killed ten shillings, paid out of the Treasury of the Country ; 
Provided that due proof be made thereof unto the Planta- 
tion next adjoining where such wolf or wolves were killed : 
And also they bring a Certificate under some Magistrate's 
hand, or the Constable of that place unto the Treasurer ; 
Provided also that this Order doth intend oiiely such Plan- 
tations as do Contribute with us to publick charges, and for 
such Plantations upon the River of Piscataway that do not 
join with us to carry on publick charges, they shall make 
payment upon their own charge."' 

After seventy-five years of commonage, the habits of the 
people had changed. The soil in the settlement was so far 
redeemed that each family could support and care for its 
stock upon its home land more conveniently than in com- 
mon. The laudable passion for holding lands in severalty 
so far prevailed that '• the six hundred acres " on the west 
of Saugus River, Xaliant and the great northern ranges, 
were all granted to the householders in fee simple. 

This division of the common lands seems to mark an out- 
cropping of race traits, which, in the beginning, had been 
subordinated to the overmastering influence of the Mosaic 
laws and customs upon the fathers. It took place after the 
planters were in their graves and the first generation of 
American-born inhabitants had come to mature yeai-s. A 
thorough test of community of ownership in lands had been 
tried, and was deliberately rejected. The Puritan had no 
tincture of modern Nationalism in his veins. He was a land- 
lover, as his Anglo-Saxon ancestors and his remote ancestors 
away back in the German forests, had been. The Norman 
strain in his blood made him desire to hold his land in abso- 
lute possession in fee simple. 



26 IN LYNN WOODS. 



On another matter, too, he differed from modern agitators, 
who propose to divide the earnings of the thrifty with the 
idlers every Saturday night. The more a man had acquired 
by the sweat of his brow, by the toil of his sons, the more he 
received in the new allotment. 

This is the plan adopted by the committee of the town in 
the old-fashioned days, when habits of industry and thrift 
were recognized as virtues : 

" We first obtained of the Selectmen of said Lynn, a copy 
of the List of Estate taken by them in 1705, which list 
being lirst perfected and made intelligible to us by the 
Selectmen, through our desire, by their bringing each per- 
son's land to the right owner, and by adding such to said 
List, that by Reason of poverty, or others being in captivity, 
had been left out of said List, that soe we might come to the 
knowledge of all the proprietors and Inhabitants that have 
Lands of theire. owne in fee ; we having made division of 
the aforesaid Common Lands according to what each pro- 
prietor and Inhabitant have of Lands upon said List." 

The only common pasturage remaining in Lynn later than 
1706, was Rocks Pasture, now our attractive Highlands. 

It sounds oddly, but it is true, that these remote hills and 
valleys were better known, more frequented, and of more 
pecuniary benefit to the early generations of Colonial Lynn, 
than they are to our urban people of to-day. 

These sombre woods have had three periods of usefulness. 
First, in the planting era, down to 1706, they furnished 
pasturage and timber, food and shelter to the village. In 
the second period, covering a town life, shifting from the 
pastoral to mechanical pursuits, they were still useful, but 
restricted to furnishino- fuel to the inhabitants. 



WALLS AND PASTURES. 27 

As time went on, and cheap coal came in, with ever ad- 
vancing density of population, it seemed as if the slaughter- 
ing brick-maker and the incendiary fire fiend would render 
the woods a desolation, a desert, and a menace to oar fair 
town. 

But lo ! the third use dawns upon us. We had grown to 
be a city. The complex modern life requires pure water. 
Science with its witch-hazel rod indicates its abundance 
about the springs where the old Puritans' cattle had de- 
tected it centuries before. There a great pond of sparkling 
water is reared. It follows that the water-shed must be 
protected. Lovers of the woods meet with municipal liber- 
ality, and the pastures enter upon the broader and higher 
function of furnishing the Lynn of the future with water, 
oxygen, and restful spaces. 

The fathers, with their Aryan ways, their patient oxen, 
and their daemon wolves, have gone ; the woods, which they 
used first in common, then in severalty, the walls, which tes- 
tify to their energy, and the wolf pits, which note their skill 
in masonry, are being restored to the common inheritance 
of their children's children. 



DUNGEON ROCK 



To THE people of modern Lynn, until a compara- 
tively recent date, Dungeon Rock has been the 
ultima thule, beyond which was the unknown wilder- 
ness. Tradition, romance and credulity have made Dungeon 
Rock famous beyond our borders. To it the steps of citizens 
and travelers have long been attracted. As a show place, 
it excelled High Rock or the home of Moll Pitcher. Two 
phases of the Rock's story have been so well told that no 
attempt will be here made to improve. The legendary 
account will be given in the language of Alonzo Lewis, wht). 
as a child, imbibed with his mother's milk, the traditions of 
old Lynn. Under date 1658, Mr. Lewis writes: 

" This year there was a great earthquake in New England, 
connected with which is the following story: Some time 
previous, on a j)leasant evening, a little after sunset, a small 
vessel was seen to anchor near the mouth of Saugus River. 
A boat was presently lowered from her side, into which four 
men descended and moved up the river a considerable dis- 
tance, when they landed, and proceeded directly into the 
woods. They had been noticed by onl}^ a few individuals ; 
but in those early times, when the people were surrounded 
by danger, and easily susceptible of alarm, such an incident 
was well calculated to awaken suspicion, and in the course 
of the evening the intelligence was conveyed to many 
houses. In the morning, the people naturally directed their 

(28) 



DUNGEON ROCK. 



29 



eyes towards the shore, in search of the strange vessel, but 
she was gone, and no trace could be found either of her or 
her singular crew. It was afterward ascertained that, on 
that morning, one of the men at the iron works, on going 
into the foundry, discovered a paper, on which was written, 
that if a quantity of shackles, handcuffs, hatchets, and other 
articles of iron manufacture, were made and deposited, with 
secrecy, in a certain place in the woods, which was particu- 
larly designated, an amount of silver, to their full value, 
would be found in their place. The articles were made in a 
few days, and placed in conformity with the directions. On 
the next morning they were gone, and the money was found 
according to the promise; but, though a watch had been 
kept, no vessel was seen. 

"Some months afterward, the four men returned, and 
selected one of the most secluded and romantic spots in the 
woods of Saugus for their abode. The place of their retreat 
was a deep, narrow valley, shut in on two sides by high lulls 
and craggy, precipitous rocks, and shrouded on the others by 
thick phies, hemlocks and cedars, between which there was 
only one small spot to which the rays of the sun, at noon, 
could penetrate. On climbing up the rude and almost per- 
pendicular steps of the rock on the eastern side, the eye 
could command a full view of the bay on the south, and a 
prospect of a considerable portion of the surrounding coun- 
try The place of their retreat has ever since been called 
the Pirates' Glen, and they could not have selected a spot 
on the coast, for many miles, more favorable for the purposes, 
both of concealment and observation. Even at this day, 
when the neighborhood has become thickly peopled, it is 
still a lonely and desolate place, and probably not one m a 
hundred of the inhabitants has ever descended into its si ent 
and gloomy recess. There the pirates built a sma 1 hut, 
made a garden, and dug a well, the appearance ot which is 
still visible. It has been supposed that they buried money ; 
but though people have dug there, and in several other 



30 IN LYNN WOODS. 



places, none has ever been found. After residing there 
some time, their retreat became known, and one of the 
king's cruisers appeared on the coast. They were traced to 
the glen, and three of them were taken and carried to Eng- 
land, where it is probable they were executed. The other, 
whose name was Thomas Veal, escaped to a rock in the 
woods, about two miles to the north, in which was a spacious 
cavern, where the pirates had previously deposited some of 
their plunder. There the fugitive fixed his residence, and 
practised the trade of a shoemaker, occasionally coming down 
to the village to obtain articles of sustenance. He con- 
tinued his residence till the great earthquake this year, when 
the top of the rock was loosened, and crushed down into the 
mouth of the cavern, enclosing the unfortunate inmate in 
its unyielding prison. It has ever since been called the 
Pirate's Dungeon." 

The connection of Hiram Marble may well be related by 
James R. Newhall, the faithful annalist of Lynn, who penned 
it as related to him by the veteran enthusiast. [From 1864 
edition of the History of Lynn ;] 

It was in 1852, that Mr. Marble purchased from the City 
of Lynn a lot of woodland in which the Dungeon Rock is 
situated. He came hither, a stranger, enticed by alleged 
clairvoyant revelations, and immediately commenced the 
laborious task of excavation. And he has continued to ply 
the ponderous drills and rending blasts for these twelve 
years with a courage and faith almost sublime. His faith 
surely has not been without works nor his courage barren 
of results. And centuries hence, if his name and identity 
should be lost, the strange labor may be referred to some 
recluse cyclops who had strayed hither from mystic lands. 
The rock is of very hard porphyry, and the work has been 
so extremely, uncomfortable and hazardous, that very few 



DUNGEON ROCK. 31 



would have persisted in it. The course of the excavation 
is irregular, and such as a sensible mortal might avoid, as 
involving great waste of labor. But it is declared to be 
pursued under spiritual direction, the unseen superintendents 
— the redoubtable Veal among the rest — being constantly 
at hand to direct where a blast should be made. As it can 
readily be believed that no mortal would give such apparently 
erratic directions, spiritual interposition may as well be re- 
ferred to for an explanation. 

Mr. Marble is a man by no means deficient in intelligence; 
and he is an energetic and persevering enthusiast — just 
such a person as often accomplishes great things, either di- 
rectly or indirectly. He is of medium size, has a bright, 
quick eye, and wears a flowing beard, of sandy hue, which 
does not always bear evidence of having immediately been 
under the restraining discipline of a comb. He is communi- 
cative, and in his conversation there runs a [)leasant vein of 
jocularity. He is now verging upon old age, and his healtli 
has become somewhat impaired, probably through the se- 
verity of his labors in that damp, dark cavern. He is ready 
to converse on his plans, fears, and hopes ; and with great 
good nature, and some times with an apparently keen relish, 
alludes to the jeers and taunts of those who seem disposed 
to rank him with lunatics. It is refreshing to observe his 
faith and perseverance, and impossible not to conclude that 
he derives real satisfaction and enjoyment from his under- 
taking. He informs me that the spirit of Mr. Lewis has 
appeared, and through a writing medium endeavored to 
cheer him by words of approval and promise. That being 
the case, Mr. Lewis must surely have changed his sentiments 
since he left this world, for he was greatly incensed against 
those who laid their destroying hands upon the interesting 
objects of nature within our borders. And the reader, by 
referring to the first paragraph under date 1834, will see 
how indignaiitly he has expressed himself in regard to former 
attempts on the integrity of this ve-ry rock. The hope of 



32 IN LYNN WOODS. 



finding hidden treasure has been the incentive to labors here, 
on a small scale, in former years ; and it is presumed that 
Mr. Marble would not disclaim a kindred motive in his ex- 
traordinar}^ application ; secondary, perhaps, to a due anxiety 
'■'■ to establish a great truth." 

At the close of the year 1863 the passage excavated had 
reached a hundred and thirty-five feet, and was of the aver- 
age height and width of seven feet. Mr. Marble — who, by 
the way is a native of Charlton, in Worcester county, and 
was born in 1803 — when lie undertook the labor had about 
fifteen hundred dollars which he devoted to the enterprise ; 
and that fund being exhausted, he has for the last eight 
years received his support and been enabled to continue his 
work, by the donations of visitors. He is accustomed, when- 
ever in doubt as to the course he should pursue, to apply for 
spiritual direction, and seldom or never conceives his appli- 
cation to be in vain. The following may be given as a fair 
specimen of his singular correspondence, the originals being 
at hand while we write. And that he has perfect confidence 
in them as genuine communications from disembodied spirits 
is beyond question. The manner in which he conducts his 
unique correspondence, may be illustrated by explaining the 
way in which the communication from Veal was obtained. 
He states that he wrote the request in this form : 

"I wish Veal or Harris would tell what move to make next." 

He wrote it in a room, while entirely alone, and folded the 
paper in such a manner that the writing was covered by 
fifteen thicknesses. The medium was then called, and 
merely feeling of the exterior of the folded paper, took a 
pencil and wrote what the spirit of Veal gave, through him, 
as the response. The one called Captain Harris is supposed 
to have been the leader of the piratical band. 

Response of Veal: --My dear charge: You solicit me or Captain 
Harris to advise you as to what to next do. Well, as Harris says he has 
always the heft of the load on his shoulders, I will try and respond 



DUNGEON ROCK. 33 



myself, and let Harris rest. Ha ! ha ! Well, Marble, we must joke a bit ; 
did we not we should have the blues, as do you, some of those rainy 
days, when you see no living person at the rock save your own dear ones. 
Not a sound do you hear save the woodpecker and that little grayl)ird, [a 
domesticated canary,] that sings all the day long, more especially wet 
days, tittry, tittry, tittry, all day long. But Marble, as Long [a deceased 
friend of Mr. Marljle, spoken of below,] says, don't be discouraged. We 
are doing as fast as we can. As to the course, you are in the right direc- 
tion, at present. You have one more curve to make, before you take the 
course that leads to the cave. We have a reason for keeping you from 
entering the cave at once. Moses was by the Lord kept forty years in 
his circuitous route, ere he had sight of that laud which flowed with milk 
and honey. God had his purpose in so doing, notwithstandiug he might 
have led Moses into the promise in a very few days from the start. But 
no ; God wanted to develop a truth, and no faster than the minds of the 
people were prepared to receive it. Cheer up, Marble; we are with you 
and doing all we can. 

Your guide, 

Tom Veal." 

It seems proper to present another illustration of this sin- 
gular phase of human credulity ; and we give one that 
purports to come from the spirit of the Mr. Long, who is 
alluded to in the response of Veal, and who died in 1851. 
He was a man of good character, and a steadfast friend of 
Mr. Marble. One of the most suspicious things, in our view, 
concerning him is, that going out of this world with an un- 
tarnished reputation, and with the seal of good orthodox 
church membership, he should so soon be found concerting 
with pirates to allure his old friend into labors so severe and 
unfruitful. The rhetorical flourish about millions of years, 
near the close, would be thought weakening, did it come 
from a mortal. The Edwin alluded to is Mr. Marble's son, 
who has faithfully borne a heavy share in the operations, 
and is, if possible, a more confirmed spiritualist than his 
father. 

Request of Mr. Marble: " Frieud Long, I want you to advise me 
what to do." 

Response of Long: "My dear Marble, I have nothing to advise 
above what Captain Veal and Harris have already advised. We act in 



34 IN LYNN WOODS. 



concert in everything given you. I am aware you feel not discouraged : 
but you feel that after ten years' hard labor, you should have had more 
encouragement than you have seemingly had. But, dear one, we have 
done the most we could for you, and though we may be slow to advise 
you in reference to that which your highest ambition seems to be — the 
establishment of a truth which but few comparatively now credit, or 
cannot believe, from the grossness of their minds. But, Marble, you 
have done a work that will tell, when you shall be as I am. The names 
of Hiram and Edwin Marble will live when millions of years shall from 
this time have passed, and when even kings and statesmen shall have 
been forgotten. The names of Hiram Marble and Dungeon Rock shall 
be fresh on the memories of the inhabitants that then exist. What shall 
you do? seems to be the question. Follow your own calculations or im- 
pressions, for they are right. 

Yours as ever, 

C. B. LoNO." 

These curious communications are introduced, for more 
than one purpose. They show something of the kind of 
encouragement Mr. Marble receives in his arduous labors. 
And they likewise show something of modern spiritualism, 
which now prevails to some extent throughout the civilized 
world. Lynn has had a good share of believers, some of 
whom were among the intelligent and refined. It will be 
observed that the orthography and mode of expression in 
the response of Veal, who, if he were ever in this world, was 
here in 1658, are in the style of the present day. This 
might give rise, in a critical mind, to a strong suspicion. 
Indeed it is not easily explained excepting on the supposi- 
tion that the medium, after all, acts himself, in part — and 
if so, in how great a part? — or the supposition that the 
spirits of the departed are enabled to continue on in the 
progressive learning of this sphere ; or by taking a bolder 
sweep and at once awarding to the spirits the attribute of 
omniscience. There are difficulties in the way of reasoning 
in such matters, because they lie in that mystic province 
into which no human vision can penetrate — where the va- 
grant imagination so often revels undisturbed. And then 
again, the allusion to sacred things, in Veal's response, does 



DUNGEON ROCK. 35 



not seem in exact accordance with the character of an aban- 
doned outhiw. 

Spiritualism, however, in the case of Mr. INIarble, seems 
to have been productive of good. He states tliat lie was 
formerly an unmitigated infidel, having no sort of belief in 
man's immortality. Even for some time after he commenced 
his labors at Dungeon Rock, he clung to his frigid principles. 
And it was not till after repeated exhibitions of what he was 
forced to receive as spiritual manifestations around him, that 
his old opinions began to loosen. To minds constituted es- 
sentially like that of Mr. Marble, and there are a great 
many, the doctrines of spiritualism must commend them- 
selves as fond realities ; and they bringing consolation and 
trust. And they are doctrines which, under different names 
and forms have existed ever since the world began. It must 
be a strong incentive that could induce a man to quit the 
ordinary pursuits of life, and take up his abode in a lonely 
forest, as Mr. Marble has done, there devoting years to the 
severest toil, and undergoing so many and great priva- 
tions. 

In a late conversation, Mr. Marble expressed a desire tliat 
the facts regarding his enterprise might be stated in this 
history, to the end that the people of future generations 
might have some data by which to judge concerning the pre- 
tentions of the spiritualists of this period; saying that if lie 
should discover, somewhere in the interior of that hill of 
rock, a cave containing treasure, and evidences of ancient- 
occupancy, all according to the lavish assurances he has been 
daily receiving from the spirit host, the truths of spiritualism 
will be considered most strongly fortified, if not established. 
There is wisdom and fairness in this. And on the other 
liand, failure will teach a useful lesson, a lesson that will 
remain before the eyes of men so long as the rock itself en- 
dures. In either event, the Dungeon Rock is destined to be 
forever famous ; to remain a monument of irrational cre- 
dulity or triumphant faith. 



36 IN LYNN WOODS. 



On May Day, 1864, a callow youngter visited the cave, 
having as a guide the senior Mr. Marble. He recorded his 
impressions in the columns of a paper published in a neigh- 
boring city. The time was the period of Mr. Marble's 
greatest activity, and while the style may by critics be 
deemed sophomorical, the description is earnest ; hence we 
venture to reprint a portion : 

" This spot, with the romantic interest connected with it, 
has had a place of local importance in Lynn history from the 
earliest times. It is only within the last fifteen years that 
it has possessed its present notoriety. In the cave beneath 
this rock dwelt (according to tradition) Tom Veal, sole sur- 
vivor of the pirate crew. Down in the glen, towards 
meandering Saugus Kiver, lie the remains of the fair girl 
whom the pirates brought with them and murdered. Veal 
thought himself not secure in this retreat, but sought Dun- 
geon Rock, deeper in the woods — more secluded from 
human eyes. Nor along the whole coast could a more fitting- 
place be chosen by a man who hated or feared society. A 
bold rock rises from the highest elevation in the vicinity. 
From its summit, then, boundless visions of pine woods met 
the eye — to the North, to the East, and to the West. In 
the foreground, far off in the hazy horizon, was the blue, 
loved Atlantic. The heart of the caged rover must have 
often threatened to burst its confines, as his wistful eyes 
glanced upon the solitary sail that in those days rarely 
whitened the trackless ocean. As he stood alone on this 
cliff, naught of humanity disturbed his meditations. Alone 
with God and Nature, this man must have reflected upon 
the past ; memory's chain bound him to his deeds, evil and 
unfit for companionship though they were. Here he lived 
and died. He died no man knows how — not by disease or 
old age, but by a convulsion of Nature ; an earthquake 
closed the mouth of the cave forever, and shut in Tom Veal 



DUNGEON ROCK. 37 



and his fabulous riches from the sight of inquisitive mortals. 
Did he die in the cave amidst the pilfered booty of foreign 
climes ? Unanswered query. 

"•'Years rolled away; the everlasting tomb gave not up its 
dead. But modern Spiritualism arose, and one of its con- 
verts, Hiram Marble, a moonstruck man of erratic genius, 
found his way to the place. Under the guidance of the 
spirit of the defunct pirate-hermit, Veal, he attempted to 
force his way into the adamantine mausoleum. With dogged 
perseverence, worthy of a better cause, he has blasted into 
that rock of nnyielding, solid porphry, a vast cavern. Fifteen 
years of his life has the man already spent in the herculean 
task. He has gone into the very bowels of earth, blasting 
his way with powder and drill. To lovers of the marvelous, 
there is not a place in old Massachusetts which will so richly 
repay the tramp, required in attaining the satisfaction of 
curiosity, as Dungeon Rock and its surroundings. As we 
stand upon the bold, firm rock, it is impossible to realize the 
existence, beneath us, of a vast excavation of human hands, 
and to imagine the yet unfound, mysterious cave of Nature, 
which still baffles man's ingenuity, and holds in its unrelent- 
ing grasp mingled human dust and base gold. Leaving the 
summit of the rock for the present, we descend into Avernus 
— or Marble's Cave, The entrance is through a chasm or 
fissure in the rock. Taking a last look at the sun, we con- 
front the blank mass of stone wall. We discover a black 
hole at our feet ; here begins man's work. We see nothing 
but somber, gloomy, dimly-outlined blackness ; our guide, 
however, ventures boldly on with his flickering torch. We 
follow, and our feet are on a flight of wooden stairs — not a 
headlong plunge after all ; now we reach the bottom of wood, 
and grope on, with the eternal petrifaction of earth and fire 
all around us. Deeper and deeper we go into the yawning 
abyss — turning now to the right, now to the left, we leave 
behind us the heaven-given breeze of the outer world, and 
breathe the confined air of the lower regions. On we go for 



38 IN LYNN WOODS. 



several rods, the cavern now contracting in dimensions, now 
expanding, until finally we reach — not the bottomless pit — 
but the bottom of the pit. Standing on a pile of rent rock, 
we listen to the gray -bearded man's story, his tale of fanat- 
icism. In the wall, whichever way we turn, we discover 
evidence of the indomitable struggle between man and 
matter, smeared all over with powder, and ornamented with 
the edgings of small, fine-grained drill-holes, and smelling 
ominously sulphurous. In one corner, a pool of murky 
water pines in silent discontent ; but the jagged, overhang- 
ing, jutting, projecting points frown upon us, and who knows 
but they may block our entrance, and seal us up in, not a 
hermetical sack, but an escapeless prison. So we hurry 
once more to the surface, and inhale the pure atmosphere, 
with an enhanced delight from our short deprivation. A 
soul-expanding vision meets the eye, as we look down upon 
the world from the base of the flag-staff. The day is fine, 
onl}^ a slight east wind being an unpleasant reminder of 
New England rawness. The primeval forests, which the 
pirate gazed upon, have fallen. A city has grown up betwixt 
the sea and the rock ; but rugged hills, covered with rocks 
and innocent of soil, and warm, smiling valleys abound, 
while, like the eyes in a human face, two beautiful, silver 
lakes nestle between the hills, and to-day gleam in the glad 
sunlight. " 



On the sheltered southwestern slope of the Rock stands a 
boulder, which serves as a headstone for the grave of Edwin 
Marble, son of the original excavator. The enclosure about 
the place of sepulcher is made of jagged clippings, blasted 
from the walls of the cavern, and brought to the surface b}^ 
the hands of the indomitable man who elected that the 
earthly part of him should mingle with the soil of the spot 
where his life's labor was fought out. 



DUNGEON KOGK. 39 



Hiram Marble died at his home by the rock, November 
10, 1868. Edwin Marble died January 16, 1880. Since 
that time, no one by act has challenged the secrets of the 
place. Later the Trustees of the Forest obtained possession 
of the rock, and here the friends of the forest held an 
early camp day on Memorial Day, 1888, and performed the 
prescribed service of the forest for dedication in the pres- 
ence of a goodly company of lovers of the woods. 

Since the I'rustees of the Forest released their title, 
ah odd group of buildings, used l)y the Marbles and tlieir 
successors as a residence and as a museum of spiritual 
curiosities, has been demolished by direction of the Park 
Commissioners. 

Other places in the woods may compete with Dungeon 
Rock on matters of vista, of beauty of grove, of rugged 
wildness, but its history and traditions touch such delicate 
chords of human interest, that it will always possess a 
greater sentimental attraction than any other spot within our 
limits. Its time-old keep stands guard over the approach to 
the woods from the south. From being remote, it has be- 
come the gate by which travelers enter into our sylvan won- 
derland. Dungeon Rock is the keystone to the grand arch 
of our temple of Nature. 



TOMLINS' SWAMP. A CONSERVATOR OF 
OLD NAMES. 



PIONEERS' names have a trick of tixing themselves 
to localities with varying tenacity and importance. 
The three Lynn members of the First Representative 
General Court of Massachusetts Bay in 1634 were Nathaniel 
Turner, Thomas Willis and Edward Tomlins. Captain 
Turner wandered away to the Connecticut, and Turner's 
Falls preserves his name. Thomas Willis gave his name 
to a hill, a neckband a meadow. Tower Hill, however, has 
superseded the old planter's surname. The third old 
worthy's name is perpetuated in that tangled labyrinth 
of wild woodland, lying in the Lynn forest, between Mount 
Gilead and Birch Pond, and known to this day as Tomlins' 
Swamp. 

The use to which these lands are being put promises to 
give Tomlins' name an immortality, which his services and 
family would have failed to accomplish. A seeming trifle 
sends a commonplace name down through the centuries. 
Farmer Tomlins' ax-blows break the stillness of the primeval 
wilderness, the giant tree crashes to earth, his patient oxen 
drag their burden out of the shades that he may fashion it 
into his rude cabin, and so a path is made through which 
eight or nine generations of woodsmen and naturalists have 

(40) 



TOMLINS' SWA^NEP. 41 



followed, and now his name is woven into the grandest nat- 
ural forest reservation of municipal creation in our land. 

The rambler through our sylvan resort, who is still in 
touch with his kind, and curious to know something of the 
white men who lirst invaded this ancient home of wild fowl, 
of fox, and of wolf, and blazed their names upon its localities 
may ask, "Who was Tomlins?" There were two Tomlins, 
brothers. Captain Edward Tomlins took the freeman's oath 
in the first list. May 18, 1631. He received a large grant 
of two hundred and twenty acres in the first division of land 
in 1638. Edward, as already mentioned, was one of the 
first deputies of Lynn in the General Court. With his 
brother Timothy, the Tomlins represented Lynn for thirteen 
terms. In 1634, the colony a})pointed him keeper of ord- 
nance. In the same year, "It is ordered that Mr. Edward 
Tomlyns, or any other putt in his place, by the commissioners 
for warr, with the helpe of an assistant, shall have power to 
presse men & carts for ordinary wages, to helpe towards the 
making of such carriages & wheeles as are wanting for the 
ordinances." 

In 1633, he Iniilt the mill at the mouth of Strawberry 
Brook, upon the site of the present Butman's mill. In 
1637, he was appointed cannoneer of the colony. In 1638, 
he became a charter member of the Ancient and Honorable 
Artillery Company. 

The young colony was surrounded with perils. In 1642, 
the watch or garrison house was built north of Vinegar Hill. 
Gunpowder was scarce, and the General Court ordered every 
town " to take order that every house or two or more houses 
to joyne together for the breeding of salt peeter," for the 
public use. Sergeant (Edward) Tomlins was appointed " to 



42 IN LYNN WOODS. 



the charge of looking to this order " for Lynn. In 1643, 
'• Mr. Edward Tomlins is a})pointed Clarke of the writts at 
Linn, in Mr. Sadler his place." In 1644, Captain Robert 
Bridges, Ensign (Edward) Tomlins and Nicholas Browne 
were appointed commissioners to end small controversies at 
Lynn. 

Timothy Tomlins took the freeman's oath March 8, 
1632-3. In 1634, the General Court appointed him overseer 
of the powder, shot, and all other ammunition for the plan- 
tation. In the General Court of 1635, he served on the 
committee in the noted case " to consider the act of Mr. En- 
dicott, in defacing the colors, & to reporte to the Courte 
howe farr they judge it censurable." In the General Court 
of 1636, and also of 1637, Timothy Tomlins was the Lynn 
member of the most important committee — that of valuation. 

And, let us whisper it gently in these prohibition days, 
tlie records of the colony relate that at the same session, 
1636, our principal Puritan legislator, " Mr. Tymothy Tom- 
lins, is licensed to keepe a house of entertainment at 
Saugust." This statement may conflict with Mr. Lewis, who 
states that Mr. Armitage was the first innkeeper of the town, 
but Mr. Armitage did not become a freeman until 1637, 
hence I conclude that Mr. Deputy Tomlins was first. 

In 1640, Mr. Timothy Tomlins was appointed "to set out 
the nearest, cheapest, safest and most convenient way be- 
tween Linn & Winnetsemet (Chelsea) and settle it accord- 
ingly." This was the old historic road, over which Arnold, 
more than a century later, marched ; over which Washing- 
ton and Lafayette and the fathers of the republic traveled. 
It was the great highway from the east to Boston till the 
turnpike and railroad days. 



TOMLINS SWAMP. 43 



The first book of written records on the western continent 
is called the Suffolk Deeds, Liber 1, and was authorized at 
a General Court holden in Boston, September 9, 1639. The 
record of the vote is almost as brief as was the act of the 
court changing the name of our plantation from Saugus to 
Lynn. In these few words was our registry system begun : 
" Mr. Steven Winthrop was chosen to record things." In 
this book, on page twenty-one, is recorded the protest of the 
agent of Lord Sterling, against what he deemed an invasion 
of his rights in Long Island. The document is copied, as 
showing the leadership of the Tomlins family in the founding 
of Southampton, Long Island, in 1640. The settlement was 
successfully made, but the Tomlins brothers afterwards re- 
turned to Lynn : 

"• Know all men by these presents that whereas Edward 
Tomlins and Timothy Tomlins togither w'th one Hansai'd 
Knowles Clercke & others have latly entered and taken 
possestion of some parte of the longe Hand in Ncav England, 
well was formerly granted by the letters Pattents of or 
Sovereine Lord Kinge Charles to the Right Honorable Wil- 
liam Earle of Sterlinge and his heires : I James fforrett 
gentleman by virtue of a Commission under the hand & 
Seale of the sayd Earle to me made for the dispossinge and 
ordiringe of the sayd longe Hand, doe hereby protest & in- 
timat, as well as to the sayd Edward Tomlins and others the 
said intruders as to all others whom it may concerne that 
neither they nor any of them nor any other person or persons 
(not claiminge by or for from the sayde Earle) have or shall 
have or enjoy any lawfull right. Title or possession or in or 
two the sayde Hand or any parte thereof but that the sayde 
Earle his heires or assignes may & wdll at all times wdien 
they please implead or elect either by course of Law% or law 
full force if need be all the sayde Intrudors theire servants, 



44 IN LYNN WOODS. 



Tenants or Assignes, and may & will recover against them 
& every of them all damages and Costs in this behalfe sus- 
tained Any Coler of Title or pretence of Right by Grant 
from the Government of New Neatherland or any other not 
withstandinge. In testimony whereof I have mad and pub- 
lished this protest and intimation before John Winthrop one 
of the Magistrates and Counsell of the Massachusetts in 
New England aforesaj^de and have desired that the same 
may be recorded there and in other Jurisdiction in those 
parts and have published and shewed the same to the sayde 
Edward Tomlins in the presence of the witnesses under 
named Dated at Boston twenty eight day of the seaventh 
Month : Anno : Domini : 1641 : Anno regni Regis Dom 
Noste Caroli Anglic &c decimo septimo. 

" The above named James fforrett gentleman did make tliis 
Protestation the twenty eight of the said month in the yeare 
aforesd att Boston in Massachusetts aforesd before me. 

Jo. Winthrop." 

One mention of Mr. Tomlins in the colonial records illus- 
trates the Puritan desire that the inhabitants should not 
have intercourse with ungodly people. It also shows how 
soon the walls were broken down, which sought to restrain 
the trading spirit of Englishmen. On the seventh of Octo- 
ber, 1041, '•'Mr Edward — &Timo Tomlins with John Poole 
were admonished not to go to the Dutch because of scandall 
& offence." 

These may be meagre details. It requires, however, little 
imagination to realize that these two men were typical 
pioneers. That they were held in high esteem by their 
townsmen, who knew them best, is plain from their repeated 
elections to the honored position of deputy. The duties 
assigned to them, especially in the arming of the infant 



TOMLINS' SWAMP. 45 



colony, sliow them to have been discreet and wise jiieii in 
the oijinion of the leaders of the somewhat close connmniion 
government of the Bay Colony. Of good ecUication they 
certainly were, for the office of clerk of the writs was the 
most important clerical position in the plantation. The 
building of mills, the founding of Southampton, when Lynn 
was only ten years old, the trading with the Dutch at New 
Netherlands, all indicate energy and push. It stamps them 
as leaders of the old stock which broadened and developed 
new vigor from contact with new soil. 

The dictionary men describe a swamp as low land filled 
Avith water. Tomlins' Swamp is rather a gigantic vase, 
wdiose sloping walls are precious stones of dark hornblende 
and gray sienite, down which innumerable little rivulets of 
sparkling w^ater leap to vivify the garden of the glades. 
Then, uniting, the little streamlets become Penny Brook, 
and glide over its mossy bed, till they hide themselves in the 
placid bosom of Walden Pond. Penny Brook, so long trib- 
utary to Saugus River, now distributes its life-cheering 
current to the houses of Lynn. Our vase is filled with 
wondrous results of the alchemy of the elements, from the 
stately evergreen pine down to the spotless white Indian pipe 
and modest violet that spring from earth for a few days, when 
the sun's rays touch secluded nooks in early spring-time. 
What more fitting remembrance or monument could any 
man desire than to have his name linked with this region of 
inexhaustible treasures for every sense of man, guarded by 
simple tradition through the generations when the secrets of 
the woods were the delight of the favored few, till now, 
when the great public are to be admitted, educated and 
exalted by daily communion at tlie slu-ines of Nature. 



46 IN LYNN WOODS. 



The cliarms of this region come ahiiost wholly from the 
fact that the hand of man has had so little to do in fashion- 
ing them. As a memorial, as a reminder of the sturd}^ Pur- 
itan stock, let us of the present keep man's vandal hands 
from defacing with improvements. Let us preserve it for 
the future to enjoy as a bit of primitive New England. 

Let the Tomlins' Swamp of the fathers flourish after Na- 
ture's unrivaled way. 



BURRILL HILL. 



WHEN ONE stands upon a hill-top where the eye 
traverses the circle and takes in a range of dis- 
tant objects, it is natural for the oliserver to think 
that his pivot is higher than any other near-by location. 

Such is the feeling when one first sweeps the horizon from 
the crown of Mount Gilead. The l)lue hills of Milton are 
seen beyond the peaks, the obelisk and the golden dome of 
Boston. The glittering waters and wliite sails of the Bay 
are in bold relief. Far off to the north and west, the dim 
outlines of Wachusett and Monadnock break the sky line 
with their huge and dull masses. But the eye looks in vain 
to the east towards the fair land of Acadia. 

The Atlantic, whose waves break against our headlands 
and upon our beaches, is shrouded from the vision. The 
veil is close at hand. Looking out over a deep gulf of green 
foliage, towards the point where Abbot Hall, Marblehead, 
or the black smoke of eastern bound steamers ought to be 
seen, lies a long, grim hill, which seems to be below the 
observer's line of vision, but which is really higher. That 
is the highest elevation in Lynn Woods. It stands two 
hundred and eighty feet above the water line. Its charms 
have been sung in graceful verse by our prophet of the 
woods, and consecrated by the Society of the Forest, under 
the name of Mount Nebo. 

(47) 



48 IN LYNN WOODS. 



The fathers, however, had a different name for this fairest 
outlook — this grimmest, most awe-inspiring sentinel — this 
unequaled, unapproached summit of the woods. They 
called it Burrill Hill, and this by decree of the Park Com- 
mission will henceforth be its legal name. To people who 
believe that the Puritan founders of Massachusetts Bay were 
intellectually and spiritually in advance of any people of 
their time, this recognition of the name of one of our first 
settlers is appropriate. 

Historians divide the history of Massachusetts into three 
periods. The first was the. colonial, which had its dramatic 
end in the overthrow of Sir Edmund Andros, in 1689. The 
second was the provincial, beginning with the charter of 
William and Mary, in 1692, and closing in the immortal 
scenes of Lexington and Bunker Hill, in 1775. The third 
begun with the adoption of the State Constitution, in 1780. 
The advent of the Burrill family into Lynn is coeval with 
its settlement. George Burrill, the pioneer, came from 
England and located on the western side of Tower Hill, 
upon a grant which indicates him as a principal planter. Of 
him it is sufficient commendation to say that he was the 
progenitor of a family whose several generations made a 
large part of the annals of Lynn for a hundred years. 

His son, John, called in the records John senior, for many 
years a "prudential" or selectman, as such was a party in 
1686 to the famous Indian Deed of Lynn. John, senior, was 
the colleague of fighting Parson Jeremiah Shepard, in the 
troubles which grew out of Sir Edmund Andros and Edward 
Randolph's attempt to steal Nahant from the inhabitants. 

The broader political activity of the Burrill family dates 
from 1691, the last year of the interregnum, after the end 



BURRILL HILL. 49 



of the colonial, and before the arrival of the provincial 
charter. It was the last year that the people of Massachu- 
setts chose their own Governor, down to the time when the 
State, under its free Constitution, elected John Hancock. 

The venerable Simon Bradstreet, styled the Nicias of New 
England, was Governor. John Burrill, Sr., was Representa- 
tive to the Great and General Court. John Burrill, Jr., 
became Town Clerk of Lynn, which ofhce he occupied till 
his death, thirty years later. The town electing but one 
Representative at a time for several years, father and son 
altei'nated in representing it. John Burrill, Jr., was a Repre- 
sentative twenty-four years, ten of which he served as 
Speaker. From the Speakership he went into the Council 
of the Royal Governor. 

The year 1721 was an exciting one. Very little legis- 
lation was effected. Governor Samuel Shute and tlie Gen- 
eral Court were fighting one of the hottest of the forensic 
battles, which for many years the people waged with the 
royal prerogative. Worse than that, small-pox raged in 
Boston through the year. The Court was adjourned to the 
George Tavern on Boston Neck, then to Harvard College, 
then to the "■ Swan Tavern, because of the small-pox near 
the College." All was in vain, so far as the Honorable John 
Burrill was concerned. 

The Boston Neios-Leiter of Monday, December 18, 1721, 
contained the following notice, under date, Lynn, Dec. 11. 

" The last night the Honorable John Burrill, Esq., one of 
His Majesty's Council, and one of the Judges of the Inferior 
Court of Common Pleas for the County of Essex, died of 
small-pox, in the sixty-second year of his age. He had been 
for many years Speaker of the House of Representatives, 



50 IN LYNN WOODS. 



and behaved himself in that chair with great integrity, 
modesty, and skill ; having a just and equal regard to the 
honor of the government and the liberty of the people ; so 
that he was highly esteemed and beloved by both. He was 
a man of true and exemplary piety and virtue, endowed with 
a very clear understanding, solid judgment, and sound dis- 
cretion. And God made him a great blessing, not only to 
his town and county, but to the whole province. Isaiah 
iii. 1 : 'For behold, the Lord God of hosts doth take away 
from Judah the stay and staff — the Judge — and the pru- 
dent — the honorable — and the counsellor.' " 

Governor Thomas Hutcliinson, the historian of the period, 
likens Mr. Burrill to "the right honorable person, who for so 
many years filled the chair of the House of Commons with 
such applause." The Speaker of the Commons referred to, 
was Sir Arthur Onslow, reputed the most accomplished 
parliamentarian who ever presided in the English House. 
The Governor says that the House "were as fond of Mr. 
Burrill as of their eyes ; " and he further records, " I have 
often heard his contemporaries applaud him for his great in- 
tegrity, his acquaintance with parliamentary forms, the dig- 
nity and authority with which he filled the chair, the order 
and decorum he maintained in the debates of the House, his 
self-denial in remaining in the House, from year to year, 
when he might have been chosen into the Council, aiul saw 
others, who called him their father, sent there before him." 

Alonzo Lewis writes, " He gained a reputation which few 
men, who have since filled his stations, have surpassed. The 
purity of his character and the integrity of his life secured 
to him the warmest friendship of his acquaintance and the 
unlimited confidence of his native town. He was affable in 
his manners, and uniformly prudent in his conduct. His 



i 

J 



BUPvEILL HILL. 51 



disposition was of the most charitable kind, and his spirit 
regulated by the most guarded temperance. He willingly 
continued in the House many years, when he might have 
been raised to a more elevated office, and his thorough ac- 
quaintance with the forms of legislation, the dignity of his 
deportment, and the order which he maintahied in debate, 
gave to him a respect and an influence whicli probably no 
other Speaker of the House ever obtained." 

Ebenezer Burrill, the younger brother of '^the beloved 
Speaker," was also a man of mark in town and colony. He 
was a Representative six times, and a member of the Royal 
Governor's Council from 1731 to 174H. 

These brothers were the only Lynn men who ever served 
at the Council Board of the Royal Governor. P\om this 
fact, probably, came the designation which long attached to 
the Burrills as " The royal family of Lynn." The brothers 
were astute politicians, for they had long public careers in 
conspicuous station, and pleased both crown and people. 

After them came two other Burrills, sons of Ebenezer. 
Their names were Ebenezer and Samuel. Ebenezer was 
Town Clerk seventeen years, and Representative twelve. 
Lie was one of '^Sam Adams' rebels." His services in the 
General Court were during the momentous years from 1764 
to 1775, to the very time that saw the first armed resistance 
to the royal authority. Samuel Burrill had the felicity to 
be the Lynn member of the venerated Convention of 1779, 
whicli framed the State Constitution, under which we live 
to-day. He served as Representative down to 1783, and 
thus rounded out a full century of eminent public service 
l)y one family. 

Lynn has inscribed the names of Whiting and Cobbet, its 



52 IN LYNN WOODS. 



first pastor and teacher, on marble. Upon a still more en- 
during monument, its everlasting citadel of granite, it per- 
petuates the name of an early family of magistrates. 

Nature fashioned this untamable hill, which rears its crest 
above Gilead, and Hermon, and Spickett, and the lesser ele- 
vations that diversify the woods, so that only its chosen 
votaries, they who are agile of limb, and apt with the alpen- 
stock, may look upon its charms. The idler, the lame, and 
the lazy, who would have their sylvan pleasures diluted by 
man's ingenuity and the horse's strength, must be content 
with the assisted ascent of Gilead. 

Yet the most persistent climber, especially if he has 
reached middle age, will not disdain the aid, which a rustic 
ladder affords, in mounting the bowlder that rests upon the 
hoary brow of the hill, like the cap of a flamen of antiquity. 

Burrill Hill is the granite backbone of the woods, upon 
whose naked surface titanic agencies in prehistoric ages 
hurled mighty bowlders from far-off regions. This grandly 
rugged and impressive spot — this holy of holies of Nature's 
temple — ought not to be profaned by vulgar mobs. One 
ought to come here alone and worship. The face of Moses 
shone when he came down from Sinai, after receiving his 
charge from the Lord. There is a message, and a cliarge, 
and a broadening of life to whoever goes up into the mountain, 
and is of a receptive mind. If there is a dual nature — a 
conflict of good and evil — a Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde in 
every person. Dr. Jeckyl will surely prevail, while with 
bared and reverent head the silent witness absorbs the pano- 
rama disclosed to his wondering gaze. 

" For still may we, even as tlic Indian did, 
Clasp palm to Nature's palm, and pressure close 
Deal with the Infinite." 







^'1 



^M 



^ s.w 





OUTLOOK FROf 





'^CNT GILEAD. 



MOUNT GILEAD 



Oh, how canst thou renounce the boundless store 

Of charms which Nature to her votary yields! 
The warbling woodland, the resounding shore. 

The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields; 
All that the genial ray of morning gilds, 
And all that echoes to the song of even. 

All that the mountain's fostering bosom shields, 
And all tlie dread magnificence of heaven, 

Oh, how canst tliou renounce, and hope to be forgiven? 

— Beattie. 



PARADOXICAL as the statement sounds, it is true 
that the views from any of the outlooks of Mount 
(jilead, a hill of less than three hundred feet, are 
grander and more comprehensive than can be seen from the 
summits of Vermont mountains that tower towards the sky 
three thousand feet. The explanation is easy. When the 
toilsome ascent of the Green Mountain is made, and its 
highest altitude is found, the traveler is simply in the woods. 

Our trident-crowned hill is a granite obelisk from which, 
on the east, if the earth were flat and a telescope of sufficient 
power were constructed, the Rock of Gibralter could be seen. 
To the west nothing obstructs the view till Wachusett throws 
its shadow against the ethereal dome. Ten years ago this 
central spot of our woods was utterly unknown, save to the 
wood-chopper, the gunner, or a stray naturalist. Glen 
Lewis was undiscovered, and Walden Pond existed only as 
prophetic idea in the brain of Edwin Walden. 

Li Mr. Newhall's Annals of Lynn, under date 1881, 

(53) 



54 IN LYNN WOODS. 



appears the first public reference to the place, which is here 
reproduced as a matter of history, and to show in a striking 
manner what changes ten years have wrought within our 
northern borders : 

" On Wednesday, September 21, ' The Exploring Circle,' 
a voluntary association of ladies and gentlemen of culture, 
held a ' Camp Day ' on a romantic elevation perhaps a mile 
northward from Dungeon Rock, and as was calculated about 
the center of Lynn Woods. They had previously held sim- 
ilar meetings in the forest, and consecrated and given appro- 
priate names to some of the other hills which still remain 
unknown to most of our people, but Avhich would richly re- 
pay the visits of every lover of the wild and weird, the 
romantic and lovely in Nature. The occasion under notice 
was the consecration of ' Mount Gilead,' one of the most 
interesting spots within our borders, and from which the 
view, though chiefly of forest, is grand in the extreme. The 
services were highly pleasing, music, both vocal and instru- 
mental, lending its charms to the picturesque ceremonials. 
There were also brief addresses, and the substantial addition 
of a picnic entertainment. The day was very pleasant, and 
several noted individuals from abroad were present. The 
' Circle ' entertains the laudable hope of initiating snch 
measures as will prevent the entire destruction of our noble 
forests by the relentless woodsman's onward march, and 
perhaps ultimately secure a suitable tract for a public 
park." 

Then William Basset built a little camp upon the ideal 
spot of the whole territory for such a purpose. It is in the 
midst of an oak grove, which nestles in a nook, midway be- 
tween the three salient points of the hilltop. Sheltered 
from the sun's rays by the trees, protected from the blasts 
of the chill north and east winds by the rock barriers, the 



MOUNT GILEAD. 55 



westward opens upon a chamiing long-distance landscape 
over the Middlesex Fells. Still only the few knew of the 
existence of this sightly eminence. 

In 1889, a marvelous change was wrought in the great 
valley of the north. The tangled maze of golden rods and 
asters in Blood's Swamp disappeared by magic more master- 
ful than that of the fabled lamp and ring of Aladdin. The 
brook, with its rustic bridge, beyond which was Glen Lewis, 
only of late known to woodland rovers, also vanished. Mr. 
Bishop came with his science, an army of men and liorses, 
and made a reality of Mr. Walden's vision. Two walls 
spanned the valley. Two ponds of sparkling water appeared 
in place of the vanished scenes. Around these ponds a solid 
driveway, with snake-like undulations, glided. The only 
fault we can find with the modern genii — the engineers — 
is tliat neither their instruments nor their books have any 
beauty lines. Their orders are, "■ Hew to the line, let the chips 
fall where they will." They leave scarred rocks, but no trees. 

This transformation scene exposed the woods to many 
dangers ; it also opened u[) their varied charms to a multi- 
tude who had spent their lives hereabouts, and had hereto- 
fore paced serenely in the stereotyped ways. It became 
apparent that the ponds and the woods might attract worse 
tenants than the wolves and wildcats that lurked in the 
shades in the olden time. It became a case of the greatest 
good of the greatest number ; so, at the risk of offending the 
sensibilities of the naturalists, who had longed for the perfect 
seclusion of the woods, a modern highway sprang to the sum- 
mit of Mount Gilead. It was so constructed that the scars 
made in its progress will soon be obliterated and the drive- 
way appear almost as natural as the old mossy lane. 



56 IN LYNN WOODS. 



Gentle reader, if you are tired of the mad rush and dis- 
cordant sounds of urban life, walk with us of an early 
summer evening up the Great Woods Road, where the tree- 
tops make a living arch of green, listen to the whip-poor- 
wills warbling their nightly chants, stand upon the southern 
crest of Gilead, look up to the flawless dome, star-bespangled, 
absorb as much of exhilaration as the senses will contain, 
then retire for a little rest in yonder camp. Silence pro- 
found reigns, the darkness that precedes the dawn comes on. 
Hark! 'tis not the prudent chairman's alarm clock that 
awakens from slumber, it is the glad voices of song birds, 
who seem to rival in number the stars of the heavens. Their 
eyes have caught the first signs of the new day. Go out on 
the northern outlook, the mists of the night are below us, 
they wrap the town and the woodland, they are under our 
feet. Look yonder, it is only four o'clock in the morning. 
Yet the daily miracle that puts away the darkness has already 
begun. Look steadfastly at Mount Spickett for a few mo- 
ments. The glorious orb floats into full view. The voices 
of the birds are hushed. The new day is born. AValk back 
by the boulder path through the Dungeon Vale, drink at 
the cool spring in the horse pasture, and with tired feet but 
alert brain and vigorous appetite you may be at home before 
the sleepy townsmen have ceased rubbing their eyes. Come 
again to the mountain, go out to the western outlook, of 
which Officer Hunt claims to be the discoverer, and which 
he certainly has made accessible. 

Looking south, a picture is revealed of surpassing loveli- 
ness. In the foreground is the Point of Pines, where the 
shining beach comes down to meet our river of Saugus ; be- 
yond it lies Boston Bay, with its hundred islands. This 



MOUNT GILEAD. 57 



bay and harbor, with the possible exception of Venice, has 
no rival in the world as an animated pleasure waterway. 
]\Iore than one quarter of all the registered yachts of the 
entire Atlantic, Pacific and lake coasts have tlieir home 
berths in the waters of this bay. The whole ji umber of 
masted pleasure craft sailing the harbor is at least seven 
hundred. 

When sated with ocean and white wings turn to the west ; 
over the massed green of the forest are Maiden, Melrose, 
Wakefield, Reading, Andover, and many another fair town. 
Over and beyond them are seen the dusky shapes of a seem- 
ing circle of mountain peaks. The prominent ones, begin- 
ning at the west and running around to the north, aie 
Wachusett, Watatic, Monadnock, Pack Monadnock, Temple 
Mountains, Joe English, Twin Uncanoonucs. When tlie 
observatory of the future stands upon Gilead, the liorizon line 
will be a complete circle. It is now broken by the greater 
height of Burrill Hill. Lynn will then come into the view, 
as well as IMarblehead and Cape Ann. 

Gilead is a wonderful kaleidoscope. Its symmetrical 
pictures and beautiful colors are as endless as the hours that 
glide on forever. Study it when the September moon is in 
the zenith. Look first where the setting sun in a golden 
cloud gilds the spires of Wakefield. Then, heedless of time, 
watch night come on over the hills and valleys. The cloud 
has gone with the sun. It is a full moon and a cloudless 
sky. The heavy mist of the harvest month steals silently 
over the valleys and the lesser heights. 

To the southwest lies a hill known as The Island. It is 
an elevation, sifl-rounded by Tomlins' Swamp, rarely visited, 
impenetrable by reason of dense and matted vegetation. It 



58 IN LYNN WOODS. 



requires such a night as this to comprehend fully how ap- 
propriate is the ancient title, The Island. The mist comes 
in every whit like the rising tides of the Bay of Fundy, or 
like a new deluge. The city with its lights has long since 
sunk. Reservoir Hill and Cedar Hill are in the distance, 
just above the engulfing waves. Nearer and nearer comes 
the dull sealike vapor. It completely surrounds the Island. 
Still silent it creeps on till it hides the highest tree tops. 
The Island is submerged. The lapping waves are coming 
up the sides of Gilead itself. The tide-like appearance is so 
perfect that the absorbed gazer seems to feel the encroach- 
ing waters drawing him into their fatal embrace. The only 
way to dispel the illusion is to retreat from the rock and 
look up at fair Luna and gleaming Jupiter through the 
Sacred Oaks. 

Turn the kaleidoscope once more and the sun, which now 
appears over Burrill Hill, instead of Spickett, together with 
the doctor's fragrant coffee, and eggs, and toast, and baked 
potatoes, relegate the scenes of the night to memory's store- 
house, and the earth is very real again. 

Nature, like a child, has its moods. Laughter is often 
followed by sudden tears. Who knows why ? 

The days are not all clear even on Gilead. There are 
times when clouds gather, the bay is hid, the mountains re- 
cede, the green waves of the forest are turned to an inky 
blackness. One by one distant objects fade away till naught 
remains save the rock at our feet, and the enwrapping folds 
of the dense rain cloud. Then the wise man will seek 
shelter, and when the downpour has ceased we '11 drink it in 
bumpers to the memorj^ of the fathers who bequeathed to 
us this fair heritaare. 



MOUNT GILEAD. 



The driveway that winds up the eastern slope of Gilead 
has its ohjective point upon the southern outlook. The 
visitor may at this point, make an abrupt and startling 
change in his method of locomotion. He may plunge down 
the alpine pass that picks its way along the tremendous 
mass of granite walls that makes the western face grand 
and imposing. 

Not suspended in tlie air like Mahomet's coffin, but high 
upon the cliff side, midway between the brow of the moun- 
tain and the ravine, there is a grouping in stone that is a 
much more natural altar, altar steps, seats and overhanging 
canopy, than Mr. Lewis found in the Pulpit Rock at Nahant. 

"The groves were God's first temples." 

Here is the grove and the cromlech, and in the Druidical 
age mystic rites and sacrifices may have been witnessed on 
this snot. 



THE GLEN. 



To the inlinite variety ami picturesque inequality of Nature, we owe tlie great 
cliariii of lier uncloying beauty. Look at licr primitive woods, scattered trees, with 
moist swanl and briirlit mosses at their roots.— WiiiTTlKK. 



THERE are many otlier glens in the woods, but this 
pkce, sometimes called Penny Brook Glen or the 
old man's walk, is the Glen. Of all restful spots, 
this is chief. It is a secluded and narrow valley, between 
hills covered with old trees, through which, on its bed of 
black rocks covered with emerald moss and hoary lichens, 
flows the babbling Penny Brook, soon to lose itself in Wal- 
den Pond. Whoever stands upon these crossing stones or 
rests upon those at the base of the high pines and hemlocks 
that make a perpetual shade, may read the story of the old 
man's walk in the appreciative words of Cyrus M. Tracy. 

The recent death of Mr. Tracy suggests the propriety of 
inserting it here, as much of it, especially the first thoughts, 
apply so well to the author. 

" It is not fitting that our ideas of respect for the dead 
should be ill-chosen or marked by any excess either way. 
To limit all our praises to the departed who have happened 
to die wealthy, would be to depress all our respect to a mere 
gold worship ; to see no virtue in any but popular favorites, 
often rude and mean as they are, is to burn incense to igno- 
rance, and make an idol of vice. Humble life, however, 



THE GLEN. 61 



often furnishes the finest themes for conimenduiion, and so 
it happens in the present instance. 

" Ebenezer Hawkes was a birthright member of the Society 
of Friends, whose worthy connection he never abandoned 
nor dishonored. He belonged to that ancient family who 
derived their origin from the patriarchal Adam Hawkes, and 
wlio, established on the lands of their ancestors, have so long- 
given the very name to the northern ward of the town of 
Saugus. Of his early history, we can only meagerly speak ; 
but at some period in his early manhood, he suffered an 
injury from sunstroke, or something of that nature, from the 
effects of which he never recovered. So sensitive did he 
always remain to the rays of the sun, that he could not Ijear 
the least beam upon his head, and he was therefore never 
seen abroad without an umbrella. Indeed, no kind of heat 
that would fall upon his brain could be endured ; though the 
warmth of a kitchen hearth-fire was said sometimes to prove 
grateful. Nearly always, therefore, he was compelled to be 
out of doors, and here his natural tastes conducted him to an 
asylum of inexhaustible pleasures. 

"• The great forest of Lynn Woods lay near his home, and 
amidst its thick and fragrant shades he soon learned to im- 
mure himself. Twice every day, in all weather, save the 
veriest tempests, did he, in his later days at least, flee from 
the house and betake him to his accustomed paths and hills. 
Here he became a keen observer, with eye and ear ever 
alert, and a heart whose mild and quiet impulses were always 
ready of response to the thousand delightful ways in which 
Nature ever challenged his attention. It cannot, perhaps, 
be said that he became at all a man of science ; but he gave 
abundant evidence of being thoroughly schooled as a pupil 
of Nature. Probably there is not a living creature, save 
some kinds of insects, now inhabiting this great forest, with 
whose habits he had not made himself more or less familiar. 
He often spoke of having observed, dead or living, every 
wild animal that he had ever heard of as belonging to this 



62 IN LYNN WOODS. 



section, and some that may be called very rare. Yet he was 
no collector. No shot from him ever brought down the in- 
nocent wood-bird ; he would probably have recoiled from a 
gun as from a serpent. But he penetrated every nook and 
by-path. His stepping-stones may be found leading over 
every brook ; his rustic seats are seen under trees and sliady 
spots innumerable. 

" Often the sportsman or botanist, striking into some path 
seemingly all abandoned and forgotten, would almost start 
at the figure of this venerable son of Nature, pensively med- 
itating over a little brook, or listening with almost inspired 
look to the sound of the wind in the tree-tops. Yet neither 
was he a dreamer nor an empty enthusiast. He took good 
note of men and things ; he knew the traditions of bounda- 
ries and ownership, and could conduct one to a given prop- 
erty with the certainty of a guide-book. 

" It was a matter of admiration, the way in which he was 
wont to appear when least expected. It might perhaps be 
said that he could not be followed ; he would disappear like 
a partridge, and leave no sign ; or again, come upon your 
path like something risen from the ground. Still, he in- 
spired no terror, not even to a child. Grave and sober he 
certainly was, but never unsocial, and so neat and pleasant 
in his habits that nobody that once knew him could meet 
one more entertaining. 

" Such a life is worth living. He was not indigent ; but 
being prudent and frugal in all his ways, a little, well 
tended, was enough for him. A faithful disciple, according 
to his belief, he walked alone indeed, as to men, but who 
shall say not with the daily companionship of God in His 
supreme beauty, and of all good spirits that may minister to 
the devoted and sincere ? A short, though it is said, painful 
illness closed the scene, and led him forth to the full enjoy- 
ment, we will hope, of all that beauty of goodness that he 
had followed so long, as glimpses of sunshine through drift- 
ino- clouds. 



THE GLEN. 63 



" Friend of the gentle heart, 
I miss thy foot along the woodland way : 
Thy voice, as quiet as a time in May 

When green buds swell and start. 
Salutes me not, as in the silent glen 
I look to And thee walking, far from thoughtless men. 

"How oft, ])eside thy path. 
Hast thou the timid hare found stark and cold, 
The stricken fox, his cunning days all told, 

The wood-bird in its death: 
And thou has said, 'I, too, one day, shall cease 
To draw this well-worn breath, and pass away like these.' 

"Yet not as these. The man 
Who lives, and loves his Maker and his kin, 
And by that name, takes all God's creatures in, 

And thanks God that he can. 
Lies down upon his Father's bosom warm. 
And dies, not as the brute, unpitied in the storm. 

"And thou, gentle friend! 
Full of the spirit of kindness for all things, 
From butterflies with sunset colored wings, 

To men that comprehend, — 
Be ours the comfort, now that thou art gone. 
To think, soft hands upheld thee, and dimmed eyes looked on. 

" Ay, to the last looked on : 
Looked till the shadow fell : until they said, 
There is not found, now that this clay is dead. 

One hand to throw a stone 
Against his name, from Nebo to the strand; 
Nay, not an evil word like to a grain of sand.' 

"0 worthy soul! I seem. 
Walking beneath the clitt", to hear the mourn 
Of the wood-thrush that misses thee : the horn 

Of bees that drone, and dream, 
And wake and search for thee again : the brook 
That waits, and cannot dry, till thou art come to look. 

"The wind among the pines 
Is come, and whispers thou indeed art dead ; 
The squirrel tells it to her brood o'erhead, 

The marmot in her mines. 
Even the wood-brakes rustling in the bi'eeze. 
Seem voicing thoughts of one whom once they sought to please. 



64 IN LYNN WOODS. 



"For thou didst prize them all. 
(And he who thus holds Nature, caunot hate, 
Not even the faults he may not imitate; 
God pardon us, great and small ! ) 
And all this Nature, where thy love was sown 
Now bears thee love again, a hundred fold for one. 

"Yet fare-thee-well for this. 
Life's farther door opes to a broader state, 
Wliere all the good eternally are great, 

Eternally at peace. 
And thy true soul, through skies or woodlands now, 
May walk with life immortal bound upon its brow ! " 

August 10, 1S84. 

Only a fragment of the primeval forest, as it existed in 
the Glen a few years since, remains. The mercenary greed 
of man sent into its sacred recesses the modern Goths and 
Vandals — the ax-men of the brickyards. What they de- 
stroyed in a few days, generations cannot restore. Even 
this wanton waste of beauty wrought good, for every blow 
of the ax gathered the loyal men of Lynn to the rescue. 
The spoiler was bought off. Here in the heart of the old 
woods the last onslaught of legal tree-killers was foiled. 
Philip A. Chase led the citizens in the last great charge for 
the defence of the forest. Like the books of the Cumsean 
Sibyl, what was left was of more value than all in the begin- 
ning, for public sentiment was so aroused and crystalized, 
that the whole of the woodlands were rescued from private 
control. Henceforth he who cuts a tree in the wide domain 
is a marauder and a vulgar thief. By and by, after a gen- 
eration or two, copsewood will cover the scars and the 
stumps that mark the havoc of the woodchopper. Our suc- 
cessors will wisely care for the survival of the fittest, and 
for our children's children its crown of noble trees shall be 
restored to tlie whole Glen. 



THE GLEN. 65 



Euongh remains, however, to us to think tliat the poet 
Whittier must have had these elysian shades in his mind 
when he wrote the lines at the head of this sketch. Search 
New EngLand from the Aroostook to the Connecticut, and 
no spot will be found that will so vividly call up that scene 
of our greatest story-teller of our own stock, where little 
Pearl plays upon the banks of the brook, while Hester 
Prynne and the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, reclining in the 
shades, vainly strive to break the meshes of the net of doom, 
which fate and old Roger Chillingworth have woven about 
their lives. Innocent Pearl found the ray of sunshine that 
penetrated the dense foliage ; her mother, weighed down with 
the burden of the fatal scarlet letter, saw a gleam of hope ; 
and Arthur Dimmesdale had the torch of life rekindled 
within his wasted frame. Even as these oppressed souls 
found relief, so shall other men and women, wearied of the 
vanities of the world, here cast them off, touch the healing 
hand of mother earth, and Antn3us-like rise rested and 
invigorated. 

Distant views suggest association with the gregarious 
multitude. The Glen means repose, introspection. Its 
seclusion would have tempted that student of Nature, 
Thoreau, away from that other Walden Pond, which he 
made famous, had he lived till now. 

This is a veritable bit of the solemn old forests, which in 
the early days were, in the tense imaginations of the fathers, 
the midnight meeting places of the forces of evil. Hither 
Satan's emissaries beguiled the unwary. To the Puritans, 
reared in the fen counties of England, these dark woods 
were peopled with mysterious phantoms ; even their silence 
was oppressive. Before the invasion of the pale-faces, this 
5 



m LYNN WOODS. 



mossy path by the brook side was pressed by the moccasined 
feet of the taciturn red man, as he swiftly sped on his way 
from his hunting-ground by Lake Quannapowit to the wig- 
wam of his Sagamore upon the hill by the great water. This 
ancient Indian trail is indeed the shortest way from Lynn 
to the headwaters of Saugus River. It winds along near 
the brook till it crosses Penny Bridge, skirts the western 
bounds of Tomlins' Swamp, part of the way on a corduro}^ 
road, through what is now Park Avenue, to Walnut Street. 
It is not only the shortest, but it is the easiest course. It is 
almost a dead level to North Saugus, and why it did not 
become a highway in the planting days to " our neighbors, 
the farmers " would be a mystery if we did not know that 
in the early times homesteads were located on the hills, 
whereby it became necessary to carry the roads over the 
hills instead of around them. 

The largest tree in Lynn Woods may be seen here. It is 
a white pine west of the brook and just over the Saugus 
line. That sounds like an Hibernicism, but the imaginary 
line that runs between the two municipalities does not make 
two woods, and the time is not far away when Saugus and 
Lynn will once , more be one as they always should have 
been. 



PONDS. 



A/f R. LEWIS, in the introduction to the History of 
j/ Y_ Ly^^'^^-' enumerates the ponds of Lynn. He did 
not name one of the ponds, which in the future 
will be intimately connected with and a part of the history 
of the Lynn Woods. There was a very good reason for the 
omission, however, for neither Breed's, nor Birch, Glen 
Lewis nor Walden Ponds, were in existence when he wrote 
that charming book. Mr. Lewis, indeed, knew but little of 
the woods. Nahant and the seaside were his favorite spots. 
That in his blood there lurked the old Puritan dread of the 
woods, his lines reveal : — 

O, bury me not in the dark old woods, 

Where the sunbeams never shine; 
Where mingles the mist of the mountain floods, 

With the dew of the dismal pine! 
But bury me deep by the bright blue sea, 

I have loved in life so well; 
Where the winds may come to my spirit free. 

And the sound of the ocean shell. 

Long before Mr. Lewis ceased to write. Breed's Pond 
nestled among the hills, the most picturesque of all the 
ponds of Lynn, natural or artificial, had been utilized. It 
was in 1843 that Theophilus N. Breed imprisoned the waters 
that ran down with noisy gladness under the Lantern from 
the Dungeon Hills, from Dog Hill, and Bennet's Swamp, 

(67) 



IN LYNN WOODS. 



and where the united streams crossed the colonial highway 
at Oak Street, in a gorge between the hills, a dam was built. 
Mr. Breed here established a factory for making shoemakers' 
tools or kit. The pond in its name recognizes one of Lynn's 
oldest families, and in its first use reminds us of an almost 
lost art, that of making shoes by hand. 

With the varying fortunes of the proprietors of this pond 
we meddle not, till 1870; during Mr. Walden's mayoralty. 
Breed's Pond, with its rights and easements, became forever 
the property of the city, as the first of its basins for supply- 
ing it with pure water for domestic and all other purposes. 

It is said that distance lends enchantment to the view. 
It is truer to say that the inspired pens of a country's seers 
and poets make the many see through the eyes of the few. 
A little group of poets have made the lake region of England 
holy land for the people of the English tongue. The Irish- 
man sings in every land the praises of the Lakes of Killar- 
ney. With flaming torch Walter Scott has illuminated the 
lochs, and the moors, and the mountain passes of bonnie 
Scotland. Give us like power of the imagination and ex- 
pression, and Breed's Pond would rival Loch Katrine. Let 
the huntsman's horn reverberate its clarion notes from noble 
Lantern Rock over its clear waters, and Ellen Douglas or 
Rhoderick Dhu might pull out from the shadow of yonder 
wooded island. 

The little island in this pond has an historical interest, 
for upon it are yet to be seen wolf pits dug by the planters 
in the infancy of the settlement. They are not far from the 
site of the home of Richard Sadler, first Clerk of the Writs. 
On the 13th of September, 1631, Governor Winthrop records 
in his journal : "■ The wolves killed some swine at Saugus." 



69 



On the 9th of November, the court ordered that if any one 
killed a wolf he should have one penny for each cow and 
horse, and one farthing for each sheep and swine in the 
plantation. Mr. Lewis says : "• Many pits were dug in the 
woods to entrap them, and some of them are yet to be seen." 
Perchance these very pits were dug by the clerkly Mr 
Sadler himself. 

In 1872, the people of Lynn being still thirsty, the Water 
Board went up Walnut Street to the west, and, by intercept- 
ing the stream when it was about to cross the road, changed 
a brook into a pond, under the same name Birch. The 
name is commonplace enough, and the purpose was strictly 
a business one, but out of it grew, unwittingly to the author- 
ities, a tarn as fair as traveled eyes ever looked upon. It 
lies upon the western bounds of our woods, Cedar Hill and 
bold, bare-headed Mt. Tabor stand to the east, while its 
waters bathe the feet of Choose Hill on the west. Its shape 
is as arrowy as any loch that old Scotia can boast. A view 
down the pond is a revelation that awes an artist. 

About the shores of Birch Pond occurred many of the 
stirring scenes of Lynn's early history. Near by, on the 
south toward Vinegar Hill, was built, in 1642, a garrison 
house for protection against the red Indians, who skulked 
in the "forest shadows. Of it, Mr. Lewis writes : 

''A great alarm was occasioned through the colony by a 
report that the Indians intended to exterminate the English. 
The people were ordered to keep a watch from sunset to 
sunrise, and blacksmiths were directed to suspend all other 
business till the arms of the colony were repaired. A house 
was built for the soldiers, and another, about forty feet long, 
for a safe retreat for the women and children of the Town 



70 IN LYNN WOODS. 



in case of an attack from the Indians. These houses were 
within the limits of Sangus, about eighty rods from the 
eastern boundary, and about the same distance south of 
Wahiut Street. The cellars of both these buildings remain, 
and near them, on the east, is a fine unfailing spring." 

Choose Hill and its abandoned road, traveled by the farm- 
ers of Lynnfield two centuries ago in their pious way to 
and from the old meeting-house in Lynn, is well worth the 
attention of the student of the earlier days. The road 
itself, with its rude walls, gutters, culverts, and ancient 
apple trees, struggling with the native growth of the forest 
for possession, is one of the most striking evidences of our 
being old enough to have had a history. In the roadway 
are decaying stumps of giant pines, that must have been cut 
down fifty years ago. Before they were cut the trees must 
have been growing a hundred years in the disused road. 

The name is a reminder of a controversy, which was the 
beginning of the end of the old town of Lynn — the first 
step which led up in later years to the creation, first of the 
town of Lynnfield, and second of the town of Saugus. For 
fifty years all the people had worshipped as one parish. 
The hardship of the long miles from Lynnfield to Lynn, 
bore upon the outdwellers. A committee, representing the 
three sections, which we know as Lynn, Saugus and Lynn- 
field, attempted to choose a site for the meeting-house which 
should be reasonably convenient for all. They selected 
this now wooded hill as about equall}^ distant from each 
locality. Lynn objected. Lynnfield was set off as a parish 
or district, November 17, 1712, and its inhabitants were to 
be freed from parish taxes as soon as a meeting-house should 
be built and a minister settled. This was accomplished in 



PONDS. 71 



1715, and the second parish of Lynn was duly organized. 
Saugus hxter, in 1738, became the third or west parish. 

The natural result was that later the two parishes became 
towns; Lynnfield in 1814, and Saugus in 1815. All these 
tilings happened because the people of the low lands of 
Lynn would not go up to this hill country of Saugus to listen 
to the preaching of the gospel according to Puritanism. 
The name " Choose " or "■ Chosen " has remained. 

Li those days there were several houses upon this hill. 
The last of the old places disappeared in the opening years 
of the present century. It stood upon the eastern declivity 
of the hill, not far from where the house of Harrison Wilson 
is now situated. Its eastern outlook was down the valle}^ 
which is now filled with the sparkling waters of Birch Pond. 
Its owner was John Knights, who was a gardener in the ser- 
vice of Landlord Jacob Newhall, of the Anchor Tavern. 
Mr. B. F. Newhall, the grandson of Landlord Newhall, in 
his interesting sketches of Saugus, written thirty years ago, 
says that the old house was standing within his remem- 
brance. Mr. Newhall had lived to see the extinction of the 
Knights family, and to see the once rural and happy home 
la})se into the wilderness. 

It is hard for the casual observer to realize that these oak- 
covered hillsides once were dotted with the abodes of men. 
It must be remembered that in the early days of the settle- 
ment, the iron works was the center of the life of the town. 
And even after that ceased operations, its water privilege — 
the best in Lynn — was utilized for grist mills and fulling- 
mills down to the present day, when it is used by the woolen 
mills of Pranker and Scott. 

The early settlers came out of the fen counties of 



72 IN LYNN WOODS. 



England. They were tired of flat lands. They passed by the 
low plains of Lynn and built upon sightly hills. Later the 
gregarious habits, sedentary pursuits, such as shoemaking, 
the difficulty of reaping adequate returns from hard soil, and 
the abandonment of the iron works, gradually depopulated 
this territory. Here Nicholas Browne, a prominent settler, 
located, and here in later years lived Captain Caleb Down- 
ing, when he gave his name to the road which the people 
still cling to in spite of its municipal title of Walnut Street. 

The land where the house was erected is now held by the 
City of Lynn, as a protection to the water shed of its fair 
Birch Pond. Little did the pioneer, Browne, dream when 
he hewed down the virgin forest for a clearing about his 
house, that two and a half centuries later the uses of the 
land would have so strangely changed, that a city should 
be planting upon the very spot a grove of white pines. 

Birch Pond dam was raised in 1885, but the expanding 
city still cried for more water. The makeshift experiment 
of bringing down the waters of Hawkes and Penny Brooks 
from North Saugus in an open canal, was tried. Then the 
sober second thought of the Water Board of 1888 wisely 
reverted to Mr. Walden's original plan, outlined in the first 
annual report of the Public Water Board sixteen years 
before. The result was the construction, in 1889, of the 
storage basins, which constituted Walden and Glen Lewis 
Ponds. Mr. George H. Bishop, the engineer who directed 
the great work, was the same man upon whose advice Mr. 
Walden acted in making his first recommendation. 

In passing, it may be said in the words of David H. 
Sweetser, Chairman of the Water Board of 1888, "This is 
a practical completion of the plan of water supply, as fii*st 



L.. 




PONDS. 73 



presented and outlined l)y the Water Boaixl in its Urst 
annual report. Its linal acceptance after years of contro- 
versy and experience, is the best commentary on the cor- 
rectness of their views." 

Edwin Walden rendered conspicuous public service in 
state and municipal affairs. He devoted more thought and 
more time to the development of Lynn's water supply than 
to any other pursuit. lie became President of the Public 
Water Board at its organization in 1871. He resigned in 
1884, when the sources he had always earnestly advocated 
had been adopted. The construction of tliese basins by 
universal approval was a satisfactory sequel to his life's 
labors. With like consent and with singular good taste, 
the most important of our ponds will bear forever his name. 
He would have asked no better monument. He could have 
no more enduring memorial. 

Where now flow the waters of Walden Pond, there was 
anciently a solitary homestead. It was called The Danforth 
Place, by reason of its last occupant being a man of that 
name, who had married a woman of the Sweetser family, in 
whom was the title. The house was many years ago re- 
moved to Cliftondale, and the farm lapsed into the forest. 
At the time the city began its operations, the great meadows 
were unoccupied save by a series of dams, which Mr. Samuel 
Hawkes used to store water for the purpose of shielding his 
bright cranberry beds from the early frost. 

The larger part of Walden Pond is in Saugus, and a 
small portion in Lynnfield. It runs up to the great north- 
west bound, where the three places, Lynn, Saugus and Lynn- 
field touch. The eastern end is in Lynn, where it extends 
to the now sunk but once fair Glen Lewis, 



74 IN LYNN WOODS. 



The Forest Society, May 30, 1882, dedicated a secluded 
but singularh' beautiful spot in the then far-off wilderness, 
in memory of Lynn's first historian. The brook in the midst 
of the Glen was spanned by a log bridge ; in the background 
towered the great boulders, which now buttress the pond 
that has usurped the Glen. Alonzo Lewis' best monument 
is the history of his native town. Books are the only im- 
mortal creations of the human intellect, or in the language 
of William Hazlitt, " Words are the only things that last 
forever." The poet Montgomery expresses the same idea 
in his Retrospect of Literature : " Looking abroad over the 
whole world, after a lapse of nearly six thousand years, what 
have we of the past but the words in which its history is 
recorded ? What, besides a few mouldering and brittle 
ruins, which time is imperceptibly touching down into dust, 
what, besides these, remains of the glory, the grandeur, the 
intelligence, the supremacy of the Grecian republics, or the 
empire of Rome ? Nothing but the words of poets, histo- 
rians, philosophers, and orators, who, being dead, yet speak, 
and in their immortal works still maintain their dominion 
over inferior minds through all posterity." 

It is well, however, for the people of Lynn to show their 
appreciation of the labors of Mr. Lewis, by baptizing our 
northern lake by the name of Glen Lewis Pond. 

High upon the hills, north of the Ox Pasture, lies a little 
gem of the woods, the dividing point whence the waters that 
flow west into Hawkes' Brook, and southerly into the Flax 
Pond system, divide. This is Nell's Pond. 

At the eastern gateway of the forest is Sluice Pond, and 
towards the city the roadway borders upon the Flax Pond 
of the colonial days. 



ox PASTURE WATCH TOWER. 



" You should have seen that long liill range, 
With gaps of brightness riven — 
How through eacli pass and hollow streamed 
Tlie purpling lights of heaven." 

— WniTTIEK. 

THE SCOPE of this work did not include anytliiiig 
in the Ox Pasture, but as it goes to press, the Watch 
Tower of the far wilderness has passed from private 
ownership into our reservation. Ten acres of granite preci- 
pice, including the spring of sweet water at its base, worth 
more for the purpose of rural resort than all the rest of the 
Ox Pasture, has been added to the heritage of the future 
people of Lynn, so that it may not be inappropriate to give 
a few lines to the last acquisition. 

By the few who have known it by tradition or ownershij), 
it has been called indifferently Tophet or Raccoon Ledge. 
Each name is signiticant of a thought in the minds of the 
early settlers : 

"The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence 
And black Gelienna called, the type of Hell." 

The Puritan poet, John Milton, little thought when he 
wrote these lines that his fellow worshippers in the American 
wilderness would apply the name Tophet to an outlook that 
is, perhaps, more seductive, more permanent in memory's 
picture gallery than any other in Lynn Woods, 

(75) 



76 IN LYNN WOODS. 



The Puritan yeoman read his Bible as often and as 
devoutly as any race ever did. He did not come to this 
bold Ossa on Pelion piled with ears attuned to the melan- 
choly ditty of the yellow hammer, nor eyes watching for the 
billowy sea of swaying tree-tops. His imagination did not 
indulge in the fancy that this was a granite capstan around 
which the monarchs of the forest were tugging, or as an 
anchor which held them securely in their moorings, while 
Boreas howled in sleety gales. 

As he felled the trees and framed the timber in Meeting- 
House Sw^amp, for the Old Tunnel Meeting-House, he 
looked up to this almost unscalable granite bulk and 
thought that it was an awful place for his wood lot to be 
laid out ; hence, with pious profanity, he called it not Hell, 
but Tophet Ledge. 

I desire at this point to interject a personal or family ex- 
planation. When I wrote the above, regarding the name 
Tophet Ledge, I did not have at hand the original layout of 
these lots, and w^as wholly unaware that the first ow^ner in 
severalty of the outlook was one of my ancestors, Ebenezer 
Hawkes, the first of that name. It was allotted to him in 
the division of the common lands in 1706. I hasten to 
explain that I believe the name was not applied by my land- 
loving ancestor, but that it had attached long before the 
division. Therefore my family are not at fault for such a 
wicked name. 

Musing upon this rock suggests a study of the law of 
heredity here illustrated. This Ebenezer was the youngest 
grandson of the first comer of the Hawkes family. He, 
living ujDon the western border of this great forest, had a 
passion for land, and many pages of the early books of 



ox PASTURE WATCH TOWER. 



records at Salem are covered by conveyances of these wood- 
lands to him. In each generation of the family since there 
has been at least one individual of like characteristics. 

So it came to pass that when our Water Board sought 
title to the land in and about the water basins, one of his 
descendants was found to have more knowledge of titles and 
boundaries, and to possess more acres, than any other person. 

The fascination which the woods had for another of his 
descendants of the same Christian name, is given elsewhere 
in the words of Mr, Tracy. He probably could not have 
analj^zed the motives wdiich drew him to the haunts of 
Nature. It was, however, an inheritance from his ances- 
tor, who had been impressed with the restfulness of the 
unl)roken wilderness ; or, perhaps, the sternness of the Pur- 
itan faith was given a more somber tinge from the immensity 
of the solitude all about him. 

When individual ownership became inexpedient and the 
ancient communal use was restored, the same law of heredity 
compelled another descendant to continue to walk the old 
ways as a Park Commissioner. 

Two ranges to the north, in the valley, the prospector 
knew there were wolves, and there he constructed those 
oblong traps, covered with a slight net-work of pine boughs 
and baited with savory temptation, for the hated marauder. 

He found here another unknown beast, more of a climber 
than the wolf. He discovered that this first occupant and 
observer of Nature was a vaccoon, jyroei/on lotor, so he styled 
the place anew as Raccoon Ledge. 

Both of these names meant something when applied to 
the hill, which is more than can be said of the name, which, 
of late, some people have attempted to attach — Mount 



78 IN LYNN WOODS. 



Sanborn — after a worthy pedagogue, who used to flog boys 
in Gravesend. 

Right here it may be well to say that it seems a misnomer 
to call our summits mountains. It adds nothing to their 
height, their beauty, or their impressiveness. They are the 
hills of Lynn. 

This noble peak, which Mr. Rowell's map shows to be 
two hundred and fifty feet high, now that it has passed into 
the hands of the city, will in due time receive an appropriate 
designation. 

The best point of observation for those who visit the 
woods by carriage is from Echo Rock, from whence it may 
be seen northwesterly over Glen Lewis Pond. Look upon 

" Yon hill's red crown, 
Of old the Indian trod, 
And, through the sunset air, lookeil down 
Upon the smile of God." 

Clinging to its gritty rock is a rude cabin, which some 
adventurous explorers have erected with much toil and 
pleasure. 

The title to this land has always been held by the fami- 
lies of the first settlers. The first has been named. The 
last was the Ingalls family. ^ 

The view from this summit is peculiarly restful. A slit 
of East Lynn appears through the hills that bound the 
Blood's Swamp valley on the left. An exquisite bit of rural 
landscape is seen, looking down southwest upon North 
Saugus and Oaklandvale. In the broad foreground are 



1 It is a pleasure to record in this connection that Charles Sidney Ingalls, of this 
historic family, has made a gift to the city, of live acres of land, lying between 
Hermon and Spickett, near a third outlook, that may appropriately lie called 
Ingalls' Hill. 



ox PASTURE WATCH TOWER. 79 

Burrill and Gilead. Forty miles away to the west is Wa- 
chusett. In a clear day bright eyes may plainly see the 
outlines of the house upon the summit. To the north, the 
New Hampshire mountains in endless procession and varying 
aspects appear and disappear as clouds and sunshine, dark- 
ness and light follow each other, even as they do on Gilead. 
From this point of vantage, on which the ancient herds- 
man listened for the tinkling bell of straying cattle, the 
o-oroeous New Enefland autumnal tints give to whomever 
wills, 

"Nature's own exceeding peace." 

Happy, indeed, should be the people of Lynn between the 
blue Atlantic and these sightly hills, who can sing with our 
beloved poet : 

" I know each misty mountain sign, 
I know tlie voice of wave and pine, 
And I am yours, and ye are mine! " 



APPENDIX 



PUBLIC FOREST TRUST. 

THROUGH the kindness of Mr. William P. Sargent, 
its Secretary, " The Records of the Trustees of the 
Free Public Forest of Lynn " have been at my dis- 
posal. From this interesting manuscript, I have taken 
much of historical interest, from its opening pages, which set 
forth the organization under the deed of trust, to the final 
action transferring the land acquired by the Trustees to the 
Park Commission for the city. 

That which is given is mainly a transcript from the Book 
of Records. 

Indenture adopted for the purpose of constituting the Free 
Public Forest of Lynn. 

This Indenture, made this sixth day of December, in the 
year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and eighty- 
one, by and between George E. Emery, Edward Johnson, 
Jr., Benjamin Proctor, Cyrus M. Tracy, Samuel A. Guilford 
and William P. Sargent, all of the City of Lynn, in the 
County of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with 
Wilbur F. Newhall, of Saugus, in said County, as party of 
the first part : — 

And the inhabitants of said City of Lynn as represented 
by Henry B. Lovering, Mayor of said City, as party of the 
second jmrt : — 

6 (81) 



IN LYNN WOODS. 



Witnesseth, — That the said party of the first part in con- 
sideration of the premises, and of one dollar to them paid by 
the party of the second part, the receipt whereof is hereby 
acknowledged, do hereby jointly and severally, covenant 
and agree to and with said party of the second part, as fol- 
lows, viz. : 

First. That they, the said party of the first part, will, 
from and after the date hereof, accept and undertake the 
duty of Trustees of and for said party of the second part, 
for the purpose of preserving, improving and adorning the 
tract or territory known as the 

rOKEST OF LYNN, 

to wit : — All that territory, and no niore (or any practicable 
portion included within the same), lying partly in said 
Lynn and partly in the townships of Saugus and Lynnfield, 
respectively, and bounded northerly by the Newburyport 
Turnpike ; easterly by the Lynnfield Road ; southerly by the 
southern wall of the Dungeon Pasture, and westerly by the 
Downing Road, as said roads and places are now known and 
called. 

Second. That they will, as Trustees as aforesaid, receive, 
take, manage and apply, for the purpose above indicated, 
any and all donations, devises, bequests and contributions 
made to them for such purposes, whether of land, money 
or other valuable consideration ; and that they will faith- 
fully use the same, within a due and sound discretion, 
according to the true intent and meaning of the giver or 
givers thereof, not applying the same, or the product thereof, 
to any unwholesome purposes of private gain and emolument, 
but always to the end that said tract, so far as intrusted to 
them, shall remain and be made a 

FREE PUBLIC FOREST 

for the benefit, enjoyment and advantage of said party of 
the second part, as well as of each and every donor and 



APPENDIX. 83 



benefactor thereunto, free and clear of all fees, tolls, duties 
or imposts of any kind for the lawful use of said premises 
forever. 

Third. That they will faithfully and discreetly fill all 
vacancies occurring in their number, by death, resignation 
or removal, so that said number shall always include seven 
persons, power so to do being hereby expressly granted, 
reserved and assured to them. And that they will, as often 
as once in every year, prepare and publicly render in print or 
otherwise, a full report of their doings for the period expired. 

And the said party of the second part, by the Mayor as 
aforesaid, hereby agree and covenant to and with the party 
of the first part, to receive, accept and duly observe the 
foregoing covenants and agreements, recognizing and ac- 
knowledging the same as lawful, expedient and satisfactory ; 
and that all fit, reasonable and proper aid and assistance to 
said party of the first part, in the prosecution of said duty, 
shall be by said party of the second part always rendered 
and afforded. 

And it is further mutually agreed by and between the 
parties hereto, that upon the commission, by said party of 
the first part, or any number thereof, of any act in violation 
of this agreement, by omission or excess of duty, or any 
malfeasance in office whatever, whereby any individual in 
his rightful interests, or the said party of the second part, 
at large considered, shall suffer wrong or injury susceptible 
of complaint and evidence, then it shall be lawful, and the 
right is hereby expressly confirmed, for any person so 
aggrieved, or for any actual donor under this agreement, or 
for the Mayor of the City of Lynn, then being in office, to 
make due complaint of such offence, to the Supreme Judicial 
Court of Massachusetts, or to any other court of competent 
jurisdiction, and thereupon the party so offending shall be 
held in all points answerable, and subject to lawful decision 
in the case, anything in this agreement to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 



84 IN LYNN WOODS. 



In Testimony Whereof^ The said George E. Emery, Edward 
Johnson, Jr., Benjamin Proctor, Cyrus M. Tracy, Samuel A. 
Guilford, William P. Sargent and Wilbur F. Newhall, have 
hereto set their hands and seals, as also to another instru- 
ment of like tenor and date herewith ; and the said Henry 
B. Lovering, Mayor as aforesaid, being thereunto duly 
authorized by order of the City Council, has also subscribed 
both said instruments and thereunto caused the seal of said 
City of Lynn to be affixed, the day and year first above 
written. 

/ George E. Emery [Seai] 
I Edward Johnson, Jr. [Seal] 
] Benjamin Proctor [Seal] 
.' Cyrus M. Tracy [Seal] 

J Samuel A. Guilford [Seal] 
Charles E. Parsons. / William P. Sargent [Seal] 
\ Wilbur F. Newhall [Seal] 



Executed aud delivered iu 
presence of 



[Seal] Henry B. Lovering, Mayor. 



C0:MiI0N WEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Essex ss. : December 9, 1881. 

Then personally appeared the above named George E. 
Emery, Edward Johnson, Jr., Benjamin Proctor, Cyrus M. 
Tracy, Samuel A. Guilford, William P. Sargent, Wilbur F. 
Newhall and Henry B. Lovering, Mayor, and acknowledged 
the above as their several free act and deed. 

Before me, 

Charles E. Parsons, Justice of Peace. 

At a meeting of the Forest Trustees, held Jan. 12, 1882, 
a paper prepared by Cyrus M. Tracy, outlining the scheme, 
was adopted. It read as follows : 



APPENDIX. 85 

" The Trustees of the Free Public Forest of Lynn, being 
now fully organized and prepared for duty, desire to ask 
the attention of the people of Lynn to the following con- 
siderations. The execution of the Indenture of Trust, on 
the sixth day of December, 1881, was, no doubt, the first 
work ever really accomplished for providing the people of 
Lynn with an available place of rural comfort and recrea- 
tion. By that instrument, seven well-known citizens volun- 
tarily assumed the care and management of all such parts 
of Lynn as should be conveyed to them for that purpose, 
which lands should thus become forever dedicated to the 
free use of the inhabitants, as a public domain, never again 
to pass into private hands, or be diverted from its proper 
usefulness, as a wholesome retreat from the increasing crowd 
and turmoil of the enlarging city. To assure the public 
that the purpose of these Trustees was not private in any 
sense, nor tainted at all with the spirit of speculation, the 
Indentures were made with the Mayor of the City, as the 
only person who could suitably represent all the inhabitants, 
and whose official act in regard to them in such a matter as 
this, would hardly admit of a possible question. Yet, to 
make this perfectly sure, and that no charge of covert action 
should be possible, the Trustees first obtained open hearing 
before the Boards of the City Council, when every point and 
feature of the enterprise was offered to the investigation of 
all. Without such preliminary action, the Mayor would, of 
course, have hesitated to enter into the agreement ; with it, 
he found himself advised to it by the unanimous action of 
the whole government. Nor was there any reason against 
such action. The City Government was not asked for 
funds, nor to pass laws or take outward measures of any 
kind for the support of the project. The Mayor was asked 
to join in the contract on behalf, not of the government, but 
the people ; the Council was only requested to give him the 
necessary authority to do so. By his compliance, the meas- 
ure was invested with the character of a great public 



86 IN LYNN WOODS. 



benevolence, and thus admissible, under the statutes, to 
become a perpetuity. And thus was secured the most im- 
portant point of all ; for if any plan for the preservation of 
a forest cannot be in its nature perpetual, it is at once liable 
to every kind of change and derangement, and simply re- 
mains a failure. Again, if the Board of Trustees, originally 
full, had been left to become depleted by vacancies, a speedy 
end would have been imminent. To provide no way of 
perpetuating the membership, would have sometimes left it 
in one or two men's power ; while to invoke the election of 
successors by any exterior authority, would have removed 
the object directly from the confidence of the people. The 
succession was therefore reposited in the Trustees them- 
selves, they filling their own vacancies, keeping their num- 
ber complete, and that with persons of known sympathy 
with the object, thus making possible a steady, unbroken 
policy of good toward the forest and its welfare, for un- 
reckoned years to come. With this arrangement, the first 
one ever devised, so far as is known, for the reinvestment of 
the people of Lynn, with their ancient, legitimate inheri- 
tance, the Trustees now present themselves to their fellow 
citizens, and ask not only to be accredited as friends of the 
public, but to be materially assisted for the furtherance of 
their work. They have not only land to buy, and a great 
deal of it, but they have also roads to make, paths to lay 
out, bridges to construct, and shelters to build. Every dry 
season for years, the fire has devastated the forest, killing 
every green thing before it. They must keep men in those 
times, hereafter, to hunt down and quench these fires in 
their small beginnings. The parts of which they really 
acquire the possession must be tended, replanted and im- 
proved. Liberal contributions will be wanted for all these 
things. The Trustees will come to you and urge you to act 
as benefactors to that which is, after all, only your own in- 
terest. For the Forest of Lynn will afford every citizen a 
class of opportunities, such as he cannot otherwise have 



APPENDIX. 87 



within a distance of many miles. If he wishes to drive out 
in the warm afternoon, its shady roadways will be open to 
him. If he prefers to camp out with his family for a time, 
away from the heat, its cool hillsides are full of the most 
attractive situations. If he would walk with his chihh^en, 
entertain his friends, commune with nature, study her pure 
science, or merely rest from the glare and hurry and dust of 
toil and labor, the forest offers its streams and its mountains, 
its lakes and its precipices, to attract, to interest him and 
recreate his wearied energies ; and all within the sound of 
his own church bell, or an hour's walk of the public con- 
veyance. This is, in brief, the petition of the Forest to you, 
an inhabitant of Lynn, and an heir to its advantages, beg- 
ging you not to fail in the work of helping it and yourself 
at the same time." 

In the Annual Report of the Trustees for 1882, they 
say : '' By the kindness of Mr. Thos. P. Nichols, we were 
favored with fifteen hundred copies of these papers (i.e., the 
Indenture of Trust and Circular Statement) which formed 
the first benefaction from any one. The first contribution of 
money for our use was made Jan. 28, 1882, by Mr. B. V. 
French." The first donation of land appears to have been 
made by David H. Sweetser, Edwin Walden, Lyman B. 
Frazier and Aza A. Breed, as on the fifth of June, 1883, 
the secretary records a vote '' That the offer of a donation of 
the 'Chadwell Lot' to the Public Forest, by David H. 
Sweetser and others, be gratefully accepted by this Board, 
and that the secretary communicate the thanks of the 
Board to the donors accordingly." 

On the record of the meeting of the Board of Trustees, 
under date Feb. 28, 1884, is given a list of donors of money 
to date : 



IN LYNN WOODS. 



B. V. French, 
W. G. S. Kkene, 

B. F. Spinney, 
F. W. Breed, 

C. S. SWEETSER & Co. 

C. A. Coffin, 
Chas. B. Tebbetts, 
Amos F. Breed, 
Pevear & Co., 
Joseph Davis, 
H. A. Pevear, 
David J. Lord, 
Eugene Barry, 
Patrick Lennox, 
Henry Breed, 
John T. Moulton, 
John F. Patten, 
Wilbur F. Newiiall, 
Charles E. Ames, 
Hood, Johnson & Co. 
C. J. H. Woodbury, 
M. P. Clough, 
Morgan & Dore, 
George D. Sargeant, 
W. C. Holder, 
Charles Buffum, 
Melcher & Spinney, 
George Foster, 
H. L. Porter, 
Jesse L. Attwill, 
Henry E. Newhall, 



Dr. D. F. Drew, 
Ira D. Rogers, 
C. 0. Beede, 
Dr. I. F. Galloupe, 
Peter M. Neal, 
C. A. Taber, 
George 0. Tarbox, 
RosALviN Jones, 
Mrs. C. S. Barnard, 
SiLSBEE & Stevens, 
Nehemiah Lee, 
Isaac M. Attwill, 
Peter Johnson, 
Charles G. Foster, 
James T. Moulton, 
Wm. H. Bancroft, 
George A. Breed, 
M. H. Abbott, 
Q. A. Towns, 
A. J. Mace, 
Abel G. Courtis, 
John E. Donallan, 
Nathan Clark, 
W. E. Symonds, 
G. H. Harwood, 
Spinney & Caldwell, 
H. R. Valpey, 
A. Choate, 

W. H. NiLES, 

C. W. Wilson. 



Jan. 19, 1885, a donation from Alvin R. Richardson is 
acknowledged, conveying four acres of land, more or less, 
in the Forest of Lynn, in the Middle Pasture, so-called, near 
Penny Bridge, in the third range north of the Middle 
Pasture Wall. 

On the same day a donation from Stephen N. Breed was 
received, conveying by deed eight acres of land in the Forest 
of Lynn, situate at a place called Steep Hill, being a lot 
lying in the third range in the second part of the third 



APPENDIX. 89 



division, and consisting of the lot originally laid out to 
Theophilus Farrington and a part of the lot laid out to John 
Newhall, Sr. 

The Trustees voted that these respective tracts should 
bear the names of Richardson's and Breed's Groves. 

The records of the Trustees, under date of March 3, 1880, 
acknowledge a gift by Ezra Baker,^ of six acres of land on 
the northern slope of Burrill Hill. 

April 25, 1887, David H. Sweetser, Mary Abby Sweetser, 
Mary Anna Sweetser and Charles S. Sweetser, deeded to the 
Trustees of the Free Public Forest, as a donation, a lot of 
woodland situated in Penny Brook Glen, ninth range of 
"Lots in the body of the town," between the lot laid out to 
Edward Fuller, on the southwest, and that to John Fuller 
on the northeast, and bounded northwesterly and south 
westerly by the range lines, containing one acre and forty 
poles. 

Jan. 3, 1887, Eugene Barry was elected a member of 
the Board of Trustees, in place of Wilbur F. Newhall, 
resigned, and John T. Moulton was elected a member in 
place of Benjamin Proctor, deceased. 

The story of the rescue of the Penny Brook Glen, the 
acquisition of the Dungeon Rock and the active agents 
therein, is related in the Annual Report for 1887, at a 
meeting held March 1, 1888. 

"The year just ended has resulted more to the advantage 
of the Forest than the one immediately preceding, and, in- 
deed, considered in some aspects, we may perhaps say, more 
than any other preceding. 



1 Mr. Tracy, on behalf of the Trustees of the Forest, agreed that this lot should 
always bear the name of Baker's Grove. It is marked on Mr. Harris' plan, 
E. Burrill, having been an ancient holding of the Ebenezer Burrill family qf 
Swampscott. 



90 IN LYNN WOODS. 



"We have been brought into possession of nearly as much 
additional land as in any one of the past years; while as to 
the importance of the acquisitions, and the public sympathy 
shown in the contributions toward the purchase, no other 
year can lay any claim to comparison with this. 

" Very early in 1887, before the end of the winter, we 
learned that certain parties had bargained for the lots lying 
in Penny Brook Glen, and were already cutting off the 
wood from that valuable and beautiful locality. Certain 
influential gentlemen, not of our official number, on having 
their attention called to the fact, expressed a deep interest, 
and at once proposed decisive action. So far as possible, 
we immediately joined forces with them, and it being found 
on inquiry that the purchasing party was willing to stay 
proceedings and exchange his right for a fair consideration, 
and that the owner of the land was willing to convey to us 
instead, a canvass was immediately opened. This proved so 
successful, under the mangement of Philip A. Chase, Esq., 
in conjunction with one of our own numbers (Mr. Barry), 
that in a relatively very short time the whole sum was 
raised, and the tract, containing some thirteen acres, was 
fully conveyed to the Forest forever. The conveying par- 
ties were the heirs of the late Charles Newhall of Broad 
Street, and the consideration paid was in all four hundred 
dollars. Through the whole effort we had been kindly and 
efficiently assisted by D. Herbert Sweetser, Esq., and on its 
fortunate completion, he, with others of his family, donated 
to us a lot in the same vicinity, containing nearly two acres. 
By this, we obtained control of almost the whole of this 
beautiful valley, with its present attractions, indeed, some- 
what marred, but with its best features still uninjured. 
Some fifty cords of wood had been cut, including many 
valuable trees ; but the monarchs of the realm were rescued 
from danger, and we comfort ourselves for the loss by the 
thought that such a sacrifice seemed necessary to arouse the 
active sympathy and interference of our citizens. 



APPENDIX. 91 



"The satisfactory issue in this direction, encouraged Messrs. 
Cliase and Barry to attack a still greater undertaking. The 
financial position of the Marble property at Dungeon Rock, 
had become one of some uncertainty, which every day added 
to the conviction that it ought, if possible, to be soon added 
to our possession. Negotiations with the owners were 
opened ; and as it appeared that they were willing to convey 
to us, terms were at length adjusted between us, and Messrs. 
Chase and Barry undertook the second and much more im- 
posing work. That their persevering exertions were fully 
successful, appears sufficiently in the fact that the title 
deeds of an undivided half, each from Mrs. H. L. Marble 
and Mrs. Carrie Hickox, of the special ' Rock ' property, 
and a full conveyance from Mrs. Marble of nearly seven 
acres adjoining, were delivered to us on payment of their 
equity in the property, early in the season, and are now 
duly recorded, making some thirty acres more, the perpetual 
possession of the people. The total cost of the purchase 
was about three thousand dollars, a large portion of which 
has been subscribed and collected, leaving only a previous 
mortgage of twelve hundred dollars. It is only just to 
observe, that during the rather protracted solicitation the 
private pecuniary support of the parties engaged was cheer- 
fully rendered; and it is quite as pleasant to understand, 
that all such temporary obligations are expected to soon be 
cancelled by further subscriptions to be solicited by the same 
gentlemen. 

" Beyond these accessions, Mr. Sweetser, with his associates, 
Messrs. Walclen, Frazier and Breed, has since made a fur- 
ther donation of a lot near Lantern Hill, adjacent to that 
formerly conveyed to us by the City of Lynn. This lot 
contains two acres, ten poles. 

" On leaving this part of the subject, the Trustees desire to 
place upon public record their hearty acknowledgments, 
both officially and otherwise, to all whose sympathies, means 
and labors, helped toward this desirable result, and in a 



92 IN LYNN WOODS. 



particular manner to Messrs. Philip A. Chase, D. Herbert 
Sweetser and Eugene Barry, whose efforts effected, for us 
and the people of Lynn, what otherwise could hardly have 
been accomplished." 

In the annual report for 1888, the Trustees acknowledge 
the receipt of " the legacy left us by our late lamented 
associate, Benjamin Proctor, amounting to two hundred 
dollars." 

Feb. 18, 1889, a donation from Samuel J. Hollis was 
received, conveying by deed a lot of land in the Forest of 
Lynn, containing seven acres, more or less, lying in the 
ninth range, of the second division of Lynn Common Lands, 
bounded northeasterly by land of the heirs of William 
Estes; southwesterly by land late of Samuel Boyce, and 
otherwise by the range lines. Being the same lot that was 
conveyed to me by Nathaniel Ingalls, by his deed recorded 
with Essex Deeds, book 823, leaf 266 ; and to said Ingalls 
by William Basse tt, administrator of the estate of Ezekiel 
Estes, by deed recorded as above, book 357, leaf 290. 

April 11, 1890, the Trustees met the Park Commissioners. 
At the close of the conference the following order, offered 
by Mr. Barry, was unanimously adopted : 

'•'-Ordered^ That it is the sense of this Board, that the 
best interests of the Free Public Forest would be best pro- 
moted, by deeding all the lands situated in Lynn, and now 
held by the Trustees, to the City of Lynn, in trust, how- 
ever, and subject to all mortgages, liens, terms and condi- 
tions, as the same are now held by us under the Indenture 
of Trust or otherwise ; and provided, further, that said City 
of Lynn will agree with said Trustees, and each of them to 
hold them, and each of them harmless from all loss, cost and 



APPENDIX. 93 



trouble in any way arising by reason of this proposed con- 
veyance." 

At a meeting held May 29, 1890, President Guilford 
presented a draft of a deed, and, on motion of Mr. Barry, it 
was voted to adopt and execute the deed as reported by 
President Guilford. 

Previous to the adoption of the deed. President Guilford 
read the copy of an order, adopted by both branches of 
the City Council, May 20, 1890, and the Secretary was 
directed to enter the same upon these records : 

CITT OF LYNN. 

In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, 
May 20, 1890. 

Ordered., That the Mayor, in the name and on behalf of 
the City, be and hereby is authorized to accept from Edward 
Johnson, Jr., John T. Moulton, Samuel A. Guilford, William 
P. Sargent and Eugene Barry, Trustees under an Indenture 
of Trust, made the sixth day of December, 1881, and re- 
corded with the Essex South District Deeds, book 1069, 
leaf 297, which is a trust for the benefit of the inhabitants 
of the City of Lynn, of certain lands in Lynn Woods, their 
deed as trustees of all the lands situated and being in the 
City of Lynn, belonging to the said Trustees from whomso- 
ever conveyed ; and that after the payment by the Board of 
Park Commissioners of all mortgages, liens and liabilities 
thereon, the said City indemnify and hold harmless, said Ed- 
ward Johnson, Jr., John T. Moulton, Samuel A. Guilford, 
William P. Sargent and Eugene Barry, from the consequences 
of their said conveyance, above described, to the City of Lynn. 

Adopted, sent down for concurrence. 

Charles E. Parsons, Citij Clerk. 



P4 IN LYNN WOODS. 



In Common Council, 
May 20, 1890. 



Adopted in concurrence. 

Approved. 

A true cop3^, attest : 



John R. Story, Cleric. 
Asa T. Newhall, Mayor. 
Charles E. Parsons, City Clerk. 



Pursuant to adjournment, the Board met at the Mayor's 
room at the City Hall, Saturday morning, May 31, 1890, 
at 9 o'clock, for the purpose of executing with the Mayor, 
the deed of conveyance of lands as adopted by the Board 
May 29, 1890. 

Members present: Guilford, Johnson, Sargent and Moul- 
ton. 

All the Trustees present signed and sealed the deed of 
conveyance in the presence of the Mayor and the City Clerk ; 
and subsequently Mayor Newhall, in the presence of the 
Trustees above named, and in presence of Charles E. Par- 
sons, City Clerk, signed the deed of conveyance and affixed 
the corporate seal of the City thereto. 

Subsequently, Mr. Eugene Barry, who was absent from 
the meeting, was found at his place of business, and there 
signed and sealed the deed of conveyance the on same day. 

Cyrus M. Tracy was the first President of the Board of 
Trustees, and Wilbur F. Newhall, Treasurer. 

Samuel A. Guilford was President and John T. Moulton, 
Treasurer, when the lands acquired were deeded to the City. 

William P. Sargent was Secretary of the Board for the 
whole period covered by its records, and is still in office, for 
the Board yet holds the title to some land in Saugus, which 
the Park Commissioners are unable to legally acquire, owing 



APPENDIX. 



95 



to the Statute limiting their holdings to land lying in L3'nn. 
If it is desired to include the tract in Penny Brook Glen 
that lies beyond the territorial line of Lynn, we must re- 
unite Lynn and its ancient West Parish — Saugus. 

NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS, 

Individuals and firms who pledged the sum of twenty thonsand dollars 
" to aid the City of Lynn in the purchase and improvement of the 
land in Lynn Woods as a Pul)lic Park," and who have actually con- 
tributed (not including gifts of land) the sum of .$21,440.00. Names 
and not amounts are given, for it is the public spirit that should be 
recorded, rather thau the length of the purse : 



Hexry a. Pevear, 
Charles A. Coffin, 
Jo.sEPH N. Smith, 
Charles H. Newhall, 
Benjamin F. Spinney, 
Philip A. Chase, 
Francis W. Breed, 
Augustus B. Martin, 
William F. Morgan, 
Benjamin Dure, 
John S. Bartlett, 
Joseph Davis, 
Luther S. Johnson, 
George K. Pevear, 
Charles B. Tebbetts, 
Aaron F. Smith, 
David H. Sweetser, 
William G. S. Keene, 
Mower & Bro., 
LuciAN Newhall, 
Charles S. Sweetser, 
Benjamin W. Currier, 
Samuel J. Hollis, 
Amos F. Breed, 
John E. Donallan, 
Marcus M. Packer, 
George A. Creighton, 
EoLLiN E. Harmon, 
Micajah p. Clougii, 
Eugene Barry, 
James Phelan, 



Baker, Marshman & Baker 
A. M. H. Hathaway, 
Thomas Stacy, 
T. C. Johnson & Son, 
Sawyer & Chase, 
William A. Boland, • 

HoYT Bros., 
Rumsey Bros., 
D. A. Donovan & Co., 
Nathan Clark, 
Lewis P. Bartlett, 
David J. Lord, 
Kimball Bros., 
JosiAH C. Bennett, 
Louis B. Russell, 
N. Everett Silsbee, 
Lyman B. Frazier, 
Shute & Faulkner, 
Charles O. Beede, 
George E. Barnard, 
Frederick S. Pevear, 
Enoch S. Johnson, 
Mark J. Wortiiley, 
Charles H. Baker, 
John W. Healey, 

LiTTLEFIELD & PlUMMER, 

Alfred Cross, 
Henry B. Sprague, 
Willis W. George, 
James P. Martin, 
Fred E. Abbott, 



96 



I2Sr LYNN WOODS. 



Valpey & Anthony, 
Patrick Lennox, 
Charles W. Porter, 
E. Wilbur Rice, Jr., 
John Macnair, 
Martin H. Hood, 
W. Henry Hutchinson, 
James E. Jenkins, 
John F. Swain, 
William J. Creighton, 
Benjamin V. French, 
Rollin a. Spaulding, 
Pratt «& Babb, 
C. H. A born & Co., 
J. W. Ingalls & Son, 
QuiNCY A. Towns, 
John T. Moulton, 
George D. Sargeant, 
George J. Carr, 
William H. Niles, 



Edward Heffernan, 
E. W. & C. F. Mower, 
T. Edward Parker, 
S. B. Fuller & Son, 
Walter E. Blanchard, 
Myron H. Whittredge, 
Frank Keene, 
Brown & Atheuton, 
Houghton & Godfrey, 
Faunce & Spinney, 
A. M. & J. H. Preble, 
L. Beebe & Sons, 
J. B. & W. A. Lamper, 
Elihu B. Hayes, 
Thos. p. Nichols, 
Everett H. Dunbar, 
Elbridge S. Young, 
Dr. J. W. Goodell, 
Charles A. Taber, 
Joseph D. Valiquet. 



* AREA OF PUBLIC GROUNDS. 

Lynn Woods ........ 

Meadow Park ........ 

Lynn Common and Park ...... 

Goldfish Pond Park (land and water) .... 

Washington Sqnare ....... 

Highland Square ........ 

Pine Grove Cemetery ....... 

Eastern Burial Ground ...... 

Western Burial Ground ...... 

St. Mary's Cemetery ....... 

St. Joseph's Cemetery ....... 

Friends' Cemetery . 

♦Including cemeteries in Lynn. 



Acres 

1650 
30i 

21 
3 

1 

4 

133 
8 

10 
8 

15 
2 



AREA OF PONDS. 



Walden Pond 
Glen Lewis Pond 



Acres. 

128 
30 



APPENDIX. 



97 



Birch Brook Pond ,S4 

Breed's Poud ......... (;4 

Cedar Pond . ... . . . . . * . . 4 

Flax Pond 7.-, 

Floating Bridge Pond I7 

Goldfish Pond li 

Holder's Pond ......... 7 

Lily Pond 4 

Sluice Pond .......... ,50 



DISTANCES. 

Miles. 

From Central Square (railroad station) to the landing, ter- 
minus of Lynn & Boston II. R. at head of Glen Lewis Pond 3 
From same to Walden Pond dam via Walnut street . . 4 
From landing head of Glen Lewis Pond, to Walden Pond 

dam via pond roads ........ 2 

Round trip distance from Central square via Wyoma and the 
Landing, around the ponds, return by Walnut street, pass- 
ing Birch Pond, to Central square ..... 9^ 

From Walnut street, at Breed's pond, to Dungeon Rock . 1| 

From the same, via Dungeon Rock, to Mt. Gilead . . 2^ 
From the same, or Myrtle street car station, via Dungeon 
Road and Great Woods Road, to the landing (Lynn & 

Boston R. R. station) :\^ 

From the landing to Mt. Gilead ...... 1^ 

From the landing to the top of Burrill Hill .... f 

From terminus of Belt Line R. R. by path to Dungeon Rock | 

From same to Mt. Gilead 1^ 

From same to Lantern Rock ...... i 



HEIGHT OF HILLS IN LYNN WOODS. 

Burrill Hill . 

Mt. Gilead . 

Mt. Spickett, near L. & B. station at the landing 

Pine Hill . 

Dungeon Rock 

Cedar Hill . 

High Rock is 180 feet 
7 



Feet. 

280 
272 
278 
224 
210 
228 



98 IN LYNN WOODS. 



OF THE LAYING OUT OF PUBLIC PARKS BY TOWNS 
AND CITIES. 

Acts of 1882. C/iap. 154, as Amended by Chap. 240 of the Acts of 1890. 

Section 1. Any town in this Commonwealth which 
accepts the provisions of this act in the manner hereinafter 
prescribed may, at a legal meeting called for the purpose, 
elect three competent persons who shall constitute a board 
of park commissioners for such town, and may prescribe 
their terms of office ; and the mayor of any city which in 
such manner accepts said provisions may, with the approval 
of the city council, as soon as may be, after such acceptance, 
appoint five competent persons who shall constitute a board 
of park commissioners for such city, and who shall hold their 
offices until the expiration of terms of one, two, three, four, 
and five years respectively, from the first Monday in May 
next following such appointment ; and the mayor shall, be- 
fore the first Monday in May in each year thereafter, with 
like approval appoint one such commissioner to continue in 
office for five years from the expiration of the term of the 
commissioner then next outgoing. No person shall be such 
commissioner who is at the same time a selectman or treas- 
urer or clerk of such town, or a member of the city council, 
clerk, or treasurer of such city ; and any such commissioner 
may be removed by a vote of two-thirds of the legal voters 
of such town, at a legal town meeting called for the purpose, 
or by a concurrent vote of two-thirds of the whole of each 
branch of such city council. 

Sect. 2. Any vacancy occurring in such board shall be 
filled for the residue of the term of the commissioner whose 
place is to be filled in the manner in which such commis-" 
sioner was originally appointed. Such commissioners shall 
serve without compensation. 

Sect. 3. Such boards of park commissioners shall have 



APPENDIX. 



power to locate within the limits of their respective towns 
or cities a public park or parks, and for that purpose from 
time to time to take in fee by purchase, gift, devise, or other- 
wise, any and all such lands as they may deem desirable 
therefor, or to take bonds for the conveyance thereof to 
their respective towns or cities ; to lay out and improve 
any such park or parks ; to make rules for the use and gov- 
ernment thereof, and for breaches of such rules to affix 
penalties not exceeding twenty dollars for one offence, to be 
imposed by any court of competent jurisdiction ; to appoint 
all necessary engineers, survej^ors, clerks, and otlier officers, 
including a police force to act in such parks ; to define tlie 
powers and duties of such officers and fix the amount of 
their compensation ; and generally to do all acts needful for 
the proper execution of the powers and duties granted to or 
imposed upon such town or city or upon such boards by this 
act ; provided, however, that no land shall be taken, or any 
other thing involving an expenditure of money be done 
under this act, until an appropriation sufficient to cover the 
estimated expense thereof shall in the town have been made 
by a vote of two-thirds of the legal voters present, and vot- 
ing in a legal town meeting called for the purpose, or in a 
city by a vote of two-thirds of each branch of the city coun- 
cil ; and such expenditures shall in no case exceed the 
appropriations made therefor, and all contracts made for 
expenditures beyond the amount of such appropriations 
shall be void ; provided, further, that in a town no taking 
of land otherwise than by purchase shall be valid unless such 
taking is reported to the town, filed, accepted, and allowed, 
as provided by section seventy-one of chapter forty-nine of 
the Public Statutes in the case of laying out town ways. 

Sect. 4. Such boards shall, within sixty days after the 
taking of any land under this act, file, and cause to be re- 
corded in the registry of deeds for the county or district in 
which any land so taken is situated a description thereof 
sufficiently accurate for identifying the same. 



100 IN LYNN WOODS. 



Sect. 5. Such boards shall respectively estimate and 
determine all damages sustained by any person by the taking 
of land or by other acts of such boaTds in the execution of 
the powers vested in them respectively by this act ; but a 
person aggrieved by any such determination of the board 
may have his damages assessed by a jury of the superior 
court in the same manner as is provided by law with respect 
to damages sustained by reason of the laying out of ways. 
If upon trial damages are increased beyond the award, the 
party in whose favor the award was made shall recover his 
costs ; otherwise, he shall pay costs ; and costs shall be taxed 
as in civil cases. 

Sect. 6. The fee of any land taken or purchased by such 
boards in any town or city for a park under this act shall 
vest in the town or city in which such park is laid out; and 
such town or city shall be liable to pay all damages assessed 
or determined, as provided in the preceding section, and all 
other costs and expenses incurred by its board of park com- 
missioners in the execution of the powers vested in such 
board by this act. Any town or city shall also be author- 
ized to take and hold in trust or otherwise any devise, grant, 
gift, or bequest that may be made for the purpose of laying 
out, improving, or ornamenting any park or parks therein. 

Sect. 7. The boards of park commissioners, in their re- 
spective towns and cities, shall have the same authority to 
determine the value of, and assess upon real estate the 
amount of betterments accruing to said real estate by the 
locating and laying out of a park or parks under this act 
that is conferred by chapter fifty-one of the Public Statutes 
upon boards of city or town officers authorized to lay out 
streets or ways ; and the provisions of the first eight sections 
of said chapter relating to ways shall apply to such assess- 
ments by boards of park commissioners in respect to the 
location and laying out of parks as aforesaid ; provided^ Jiotc- 
ever, that no assessment shall be laid upon any real estate 
except such as abuts upon the park from the laying out of 



APPENDIX. 101 



which the betterment accrues, or upon a street or way 
bounded by such park. 

Sect. 8. Any town or city in which a public park is hiid 
out under this act may raise, appropriate and expend such 
sums of money as may be deemed best for the purchase and 
improvement of such park or parks, subject to the laws of 
this Commonwealth limiting municipal indebtedness. 

Sect. 9. For the purpose of defraying the expenses in- 
curred under the provisions of this act, the city council of 
any city shall have authority to issue from time to time, and 
to an amount not exceeding the sum actually expended for 
the purchase or taking of lands for a park or parks, bonds 
or certificates of debt, to be nominated on the face thereof 
the "Public Park Loan," and to bear interest at such rates 
and to be payable at such times as said city council may 
determine. For the redemption of such loan such city 
council shall establish a sinking fund sufficient, with the 
accumulating interest, to provide for the payment of such 
loan at maturity. All amounts received for betterments 
shall be paid into such sinking fund until such fund shall 
amount to a sum sufficient with its accumulation to pay at 
maturity the bonds for the security of which the fund was 
established. 

Sect. 10. All lands taken or held under this act shall he 
forever kept open and maintained as a public jiark or parks. 
No building covering more than six hundred square feet 
shall be placed or allowed to remain on any such park ; and 
no street or way, and no steam or horse railroad, shall be 
laid out over any portion of a park located under this act, 
except at such places and in such manner as the board of 
park commissioners shall approve. 

Sect. 11. No military encampment, parade, drill, review, 
or other military evolution or exercise shall be held or per- 
formed on any park laid out as aforesaid except with the 
consent of such board ; nor shall any military body, without 
such consent, enter or move in military order within such 



102 list LYNN AVOODS. 



park, except in case of riof, insurrection, rebellion, or 
war. 

Sect. 12. All such boards of park commissioners shall 
make reports of their respective doings, including detailed 
statements of all receipts, expenditures, and liabilities for 
the preceding year ; such reports to be made in towns at the 
annual town meetings, and at such other times as the town 
may direct, and in cities to the city council annually in the 
month of December. 

Sect. 13. This act shall not take full effect in any town 
or city unless accepted by a majority of the legal voters of 
such town or city present and voting thereon by ballot and 
using the check-list at a meeting or meetings, notice whereof 
having been duly given at least seven days beforehand. Said 
ballots shall be "yes" or "no" in answer to the question, 
" Shall an act passed by the legislature of the Common- 
wealth in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled 
' An act authorizing towns and cities to lay out public parks 
within their limits,' be accepted?" In a town such meeting 
shall be called and notified in the manner in which meetings 
for the election of town officers are called and notified ; and 
in a city, meetings to act thereon shall be held at one time 
in the usual voting places of the city, and on such days as 
shall be designated by the board of aldermen at any regular 
meeting, and shall be called and notified by the board of 
aldermen in the manner in which meetings for the election 
of municipal officers are called and notified. The ballots 
cast shall be assorted, counted, and public declaration made 
thereof in open town or ward meeting, as the case may be, 
and the number of ballots respectively cast shall be registered 
in the town or ward records, as the case may be. The clerk 
in each ward in a city shall, within forty-eight hours of the 
close of the polls, make return to the board of aldermen of 
the number of ballots cast in his ward in favor of the ac- 
ceptance of this act and of the number cast against its 
acceptance. The selectmen and town clerk of a town, and 



APPENDIX. 103 



the board of aldermen of a city, in which such meeting or 
meetings are hekl, shall certify, as soon as may be thereafter, 
to the secretary of the Commonwealth the whole number of 
ballots cast in favor of the acceptance of this act, and of 
the whole number cast against its acceptance, and, if it shall 
appear that a majority of the ballots have been cast in favor 
of acceptance, the said secretary shall immediately issue and 
publish his certificate declaring this act to have been duly 
accepted by such town or city. 

Sect. 14. No second meeting for the purpose of voting 
upon the question of accepting this act shall be called within 
twelve months from the first, unless the first meeting shall 
have failed through illegality or irregularity in the proceed- 
ings. 



ORDINANCES. 



The Board of Park Commissioners of the City of Lynn, 
by virtue of its authority to make rules for the use and gov- 
ernment of the Public Parks of said City, and for breaches 
of such rules to affix penalties, hereby ordains that within 
the limits of Lynn Woods, except with the prior consent of 
the Board, it is forbidden : 

1. To cut, break, injure, deface, defile or ill use any 
building, fence, or other construction, or any tree, bush or 
turf, or any other thing or pi'operty, 

2. To have possession of any freshly-plucked tree or bush. 

3. To throw stones or other missiles ; to discharge or 
carry firearms, except by members of the Police force in the 
discharge of their duties ; to discharge or carry firecrackers, 
torpedoes or fireworks ; to make fires ; to have any intoxi- 
cating beverages ; to sell, to offer or expose for sale, any 
goods or wares ; to post or display signs, placards, flags, or 
advertising devices ; to solicit subscriptions or contributions ; 
to play games of chance, or have possession of instruments 



104 IN LYNN WOODS. 



of gambling; to utter profane, threatening, abusive or in- 
decent language, or to do any obscene or indecent act ; to 
bathe or fish ; to solicit the acquaintance of, or follo\y, or 
otherwise annoy other visitors. 

4. To allow cattle, horses, or other animals to pass over 
or stray upon the Park lands, provided that this shall not 
apply to those used for pleasure travel when on the ways or 
places provided and open for the purpose. 

5. To drive a horse or horses at a rate faster than eight 
miles an hour. 

6. To ride a horse at a rate faster than ten miles an hour. 

7. To drive or ride any animal not well broken and 
linder perfect control of the driver. 

8. To play ball or other games or sports, except on 
grounds provided therefor. 

9. To engage in conversation with men at work, or to 
obstruct, hinder or embarrass their movements. 

10. To refuse to obey the orders or requests of either of 
the Commissioners, or of the Park Police, or other agents 
of the Commissioners, and to refuse to assist them when 
required. 

Any person wilfully doing either of the things above for- 
bidden shall be punished by fine not exceeding twenty dollars. 

Compliance with the foregoing regulations is a condition 
of the use of these premises. 



t VO/ 



